marked
by malachai-hades-parker
Summary: (Redemptive Bonkai/S6 AU) After rescuing Lily Salvatore from the 1903 Prison World, Kai finds himself crashing in the Salvatore Boarding House until an unexpected road-trip with Bonnie Bennett to Portland, Oregon.
1. Chapter 1

"Kai, give it back," Joey whines, making grabby hands for the red fire truck toy tucked in his older brother's arms. His chubby five-year-old face is flushed and his sandy hair is ruffled with cowlicks sticking up all over the place. Kai privately thinks he looks like some kind of evil cherub with a tantrum-throwing disorder, but he doesn't tell his brother as much. He knows JoAnne Parker would have both of their heads on a platter if they were to start a quarrel in the sandbox.

"It's mine, Joey," he says matter-of-factly, holding the toy close. "I was just letting you borrow it because Uncle Martin said to share for a little while." Uncle Martin, Kai recalls, had been particularly sympathetic towards him and his twin Josette ever since the family had revealed to them the Gemini Coven secret about twin merging. It seemed learning you were either going to kill or be killed by your own twin as a coming-of-age-ritual earned you a fair bit of brownie points with relatives who brought gifts.

"But I was playing with it," the young Parker boy cries, lunging towards it. Kai utilizes his longer arms and holds the truck just out of his reach, causing Joey to fall face-first into the sand and quickly burst into tears.

Just as Kai is about to stand up and leave his brother to his own turmoil, he feels a surging motion around both of his feet. "Joey?" he asks, glancing down in surprise.

The sand curls around his ankles, hardening and swirling and dragging him down. He drops the truck and falls on hands and knees, coughing and sputtering as sand flies into his face. It all happens too quickly for him to clearly discern, but he knows for certain that sand is flying and Joey is responsible.

Almost on instinct, he reaches out and seizes his brother by the forearms. For some strange reason, Kai is greeted with the sensation of a suction cup and feels a pulsing and radiating power underneath the boy's skin. The sand stops flying and rapidly dissipates back into the box, but Kai almost doesn't notice.

He senses energy coursing from his brother to him, and suddenly the warmth is translating into power- fresh, raw power. Kai has never known magic, but he's seen it. His brothers and sisters have spent all of their early years lighting candles and making dead flowers bloom while he stood on the sidelines watching _. This is magic_ , he realizes, breathless. All of this time without magic and he finally knows it.

But then Joey begins to scream. It's a raw, guttural sound, as if the boy is in immense pain. Kai thinks maybe he should stop, but he doesn't. He's transfixed with the fascination of the power siphoning into his limbs, and he's even the slightest bit in awe of Joey's reaction. All of this time and Kai had never felt anything- not magic, not happiness, not belonging. He watches Joey writhe in the sand up until he hears his mother shouting.

"What in God's name is going on out here?" she exclaims, taking the back porch stairs two at a time. She bounds across the backyard, ripping Joey out of the sand and into her arms. "It's alright, it's alright," she coos, desperately trying to calm the bawling younger Parker brother. "Mama's here."

"I-I didn't mean to," Kai says, standing up. The realization of what he's done only comes crashing down when he sees the shocked and disgusted look in JoAnne's eyes. "I'm sorry, Mom, I just-"

"You should be," she says stiffly, and he knows right then he will not find any sympathy from her. "Your father will be out shortly to deal with you. Don't move a muscle."

 _xxxx_

And dealt with he was. Kai spent days and days alone in the smallest bedroom upstairs, only being allowed out to use the bathroom or occasionally join the dinner table. Joshua Parker's reasoning was that it was a danger for Kai to be around his younger brothers and sisters with his condition.

Kai often pressed his ear to the door and listened to the ambient sound of his siblings going about their day-to-day lives, but even this was a risk since he really wasn't allowed to move from his spot on the bed or find any means of entertainment.

He went to school sometimes. Joshua and JoAnne gave up on homeschooling, and because of this, Kai spent a lot of time watching other kids being dropped off and even hugged by their own parents. He stopped remembering what physical contact with an adult was like at all.

 _xxxx_

It doesn't take long for him to realize. His first 'condition', he concludes, is that he is a Siphoner. The second is that he is alone. Indefinitely and perpetually alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Bonnie was his first adversary he couldn't just kill.

He remembered the sensation of twisting a hunting knife into his sister's gut and the feeling of crushing his brother's windpipe between his fingers as he held him under the water of the pool. For the first time since he had been locked up and left to rot as the family abomination, murdering his siblings had made him feel alive.

Bonnie was different— she wasn't the source of his trauma. He hadn't even planned on hurting her, not really.

But she killed him, and that was the first straw.

"I'm serious, Kai. This was your big threat, wasn't it? If I don't do the spell, then you'll take my magic and leave me for dead and just do the spell yourself. So go ahead. Take _all of it_."

He knew he couldn't and _she_ knew he couldn't. She wasn't just self-righteous, but she was brave and incredibly clever.

Kai hated her.

He hated her from the moment the ax flew into his chest and stabbed him in the heart.

Sure, he'd shot her with an arrow afterward, but only to stop her from escaping and leaving him sealed in his family's manmade torture prison forever. They'd kept him locked up for his entire childhood and eighteen years on top of that, and he would be damned if he was going to add any years to that sentence.

But if that hadn't been bad enough, she'd stabbed him in the neck and killed him _again_ just so she could sneak off with the stolen Ascendant and try to escape without him.

And god, was he aroused. He'd never known anyone like her, and he simultaneously wanted both her attention and her blood on his hands.

He stabbed her and left the Prison World without her. It hadn't been his intention, but since she'd thwarted him twice and made it impossible to leave together he did it anyways.

He knew she hated him back. He hadn't cared, up until he merged with Luke and everything had changed.

The emotion he'd had to kill his siblings in order to feel began flowing through him freely.

He'd cried. He'd never cried once in his life, and he cried over Jo and Bonnie and even his stupid childhood. He'd even helped prevent her suicide and send the message that ended up pulling her from the Prison World.

Yet she'd still hated him. He knew he deserved it, but it kept him up at night.

Damon let him stay in the Salvatore Boarding House after he rescued Lily from the 1903 Prison World. It had been his only condition aside from being able to apologize to Bonnie. He told himself it was just an easy way to find a place to crash while he figured out what he was doing next and if he actually wanted to go back to Portland, but in reality, it was probably just an excuse to hang around the Mystic Falls gang until he saw her again.

And he did see her again. He saw her, and his heart jumped into his throat.


	3. Chapter 3

Bonnie raises one fist and knocks on the front door of the Salvatore Boarding House. She's not ready to see Kai yet- not entirely.

The last time she had encountered him, he'd been trying to apologize and she'd threatened to melt his face off.

Liv is beside her, though, and she figures the combination of seeing both of them at once might pull some of the weight off of her. After all, the last time _Liv_ had seen him, she'd tried to run him through the chest and kill him. Not that Bonnie blamed her at all.

The door swings open finally, revealing a disheveled looking Kai with a cleanshaven face and pajama pants on. Bonnie swallows and looks away- she hasn't ever seen Kai with so few articles of clothing and has no desire to continue looking. At least, that's what she tells herself as she sucks in a breath and turns her gaze back to him. His shirtless chest is slightly toned and his dark hair is messy like he's just rolled out of bed.

"Bonster and little sis," he announces. "Is this a hit squad? Because, no offense, but I have a Belgian waffle going right now and I don't really have time to deal with this."

"We're not here to kill you, jackass," Liv says irritably. "Even if we should. We're here because there was a murder at Whitemore College last night and we're pretty sure you know something about it."

"Oh, do tell," he says, stepping back to let them inside. "You know how much I love murder over some breakfast and OJ."

Bonnie follows Liv into the house, feeling increasingly irritated at both the sight of Kai's face and the fact he was still so incessantly flippant even in the face of such a serious topic. Nonetheless, they follow him into the kitchen and watch as he returns to his waffle iron to give it a flip.

"Did someone just say 'murder' in my house?" Stefan Salvatore interjects, emerging from the corridor on the other side of the dining room. He, unlike Kai, looks like he's been awake and functioning for most of the morning. Bonnie instantly feels slightly more at ease with his presence.

"Stefan," she greets, stepping forward. "You almost missed our recap of CSI: Mystic Falls edition. I found someone dead last night at Whitmore College, and Liv thinks Kai might be able to..," she searches for the word begrudgingly, "..help with figuring out what exactly happened."

"Well, don't choke on it or anything," Kai remarks dryly, striding to the cupboard to remove a plate for himself.

Bonnie glares at him. "I won't, but you can," she says sweetly. She pushes just a little bit of magic his way— just enough to make him briefly choke on a piece of something lodged in his throat that isn't actually there.

Coughing, he grabs his neck for a fraction of a second before pushing the spell away and straightening up with a grin. "Cute, Bon. If I didn't know better I'd say you have a thing for watching me choke."

"Go to hell, Kai. Before it becomes a thing for watching you die instead," Bonnie retorts, crossing her arms.

Liv rolls her eyes, leaning against the counter. "Look, as thrilling as it is sitting here listening to you guys flirt, I'm gonna need you both to shut up so we can get on with this."

"Fine," Bonnie agrees, pulling out her phone and unlocking it. Stefan paces into the kitchen, coming to stand beside the girls. "I woke up last night in the women's dorm and couldn't sleep so I took a walk." She recalls the nightmare she'd had about Kai and decides it best not to mention this part. She'd spent many nights over the past month waking up in a cold sweat— Kai had been the first person she had killed, and even if she knew she hated him, she also knew she had been fundamentally changed since her own attempt at suicide and her time in the Prison World. She was darker, _colder_. It wasn't something she had been able to shake off easily, even after returning home.

"I heard chanting. I followed it down to the end of the hall and into a supply closet. There was... a body on the floor, and it was covered in these weird markings carved into the flesh. Kind of like witch runes." She opens the photo app on her phone and scrolls through various pictures she'd snapped. The victim is a pale blond girl, lying broken on the concrete floor in a painted circle on the floor. Her hair is spread out around her in a halo and blood covers her skin, but the most distinguishable details are the various shapes carved into her skin. "I saw someone," Bonnie continues as Kai snatches the phone out of her hand. "They were wearing this hood, and I think they used a cloaking spell and escaped through the open vent. I tried to stop them, but my magic wasn't strong enough. And then this happened."

Placing her arm on the kitchen counter and rolling her sleeve up, she reveals a glistening mark on her forearm of what looks like a sun with slash marks through it. "This was burned into my skin. And I feel this... force. Almost like it's a linking spell."

"So Bonnie called me and then _I_ called campus security because I'll be damned if I'm cleaning up any bodies," Liv adds, examing her nails. "But those runes are familiar. Recognize them from anywhere, Kai?"

Kai is flipping through the photos, eyebrows furrowed. "It rings a bell," he concedes. "A very small bell. Like not a liberty bell or anything but maybe one of those tiny bells on a cat collar—"

"Just spit it out, Kai," Bonnie interrupts, exasperated. "Do you recognize the runes or not?"

He grins, standing up straight. "Antsy, are we? Man, and I thought _I_ liked murder." He peels the waffle out of the waffle iron and plops it onto the plate. Bonnie is positive the Salvatores never purchased a waffle iron at any point and privately wonders whose money Kai stole to obtain one. "The markings look like they might be from one of these old grimoires Papa Parker kept locked away in the attic. I think they might be associated with one of the other big western witch covens, but I'm not sure which. That's the thing about being locked in isolation for eighteen years— details get a little foggy."

"Feeling up to a little road trip?" Bonnie asks, sliding a bit closer to him. "Promise I won't make you into road kill if you just take me to those grimoires."

"Sounds like that's the best plan of action if another coven is involved," Stefan agrees, shooting them meaningful looks. "Last time this town had a coven war, _I_ died along with half of the population, so."

Kai glances from Stefan to Bonnie, lips twitching up in an almost-smile. "Did you just ask me to go on a _road trip_ with you? What, are we gonna crack open a couple of YooHoos and listen to some Counting Crows?"

"Kai, I'm going to _die_ if I keep being linked to this cult-psycopath-freak witch, so if you'd take this just a _little_ bit more seriously I'd appreciate it," she snaps. She rolls the sleeve of her sweater down, covering the previously exposed mark.

"Alriiight, alright," he laughs. " _So_ dramatic. When do you wanna do this?"

"Tomorrow," Bonnie says simply. "Pack your bags. We're going tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure you're okay being left alone with him?" Elena asks, interrupting Bonnie from her thoughts as she tries to figure out what number of outfits is appropriate for a cross-country road trip with her arch nemesis. She'd spent the last hour attempting to pack and debrief Elena on the most recent Mystic Falls drama, including the trip to Portland with Kai that was taking place in the morning.

"As okay as I'll ever be," Bonnie replies, shoving a pair of jeans into her bag. "I'll be fine. Kai lays one hand on me and he's toast, simple as that. I have my magic back and nothing's stopping me from a witch barbecue the moment he steps out of line."

"Nothing except for the fact he's the leader of the Gemini Coven and is way stronger now," Elena argues, leaning back on her bed frame with a medical book propped up in her lap. She'd been absent from Whitmore for so long because of her re-budding relationship with Damon that Bonnie is mildly surprised to see her back in their dorm and doing something as mundane as homework.

"Listen, can we not talk about Kai? I have to spend god knows how long with him starting tomorrow morning and I kind of just want to have a few lasting moments of peace before that happens." Bonnie tosses her now packed bag onto the mattress and plops down.

"Hey, say no more. Kai is officially off-limits," Elena concedes, tapping her pencil on a sheet of notebook paper. "Speaking of potentially off-limits, how would you feel about coming over to Damon and Stefan's tonight for a little hang out slash sleepover? Caroline is trying to rope us all into this game night thing. I know you have to go over there in the morning, though, so no hard feelings if you want a 'you' night."

Bonnie considers this for a second, fiddling with the threads of the quilt on her bed. "Eh, what the hell- let's do it. We haven't had a normal night in what feels like forever."

"I can second that," Elena agrees, crumpling a sheet of notebook paper up. "Caroline wants us over there by nine o'clock."

"Great," Bonnie agrees, praying Kai doesn't show his face. As usual, her prayers end up going unanswered.

 _xxxx_

"Alright, I have snacks and board games but mostly snacks," Caroline says excitedly, ushering Bonnie and Elena through the door. "I figured we could start out with a good old-fashioned game of Truth or Dare and some drinks."

Elena and Bonnie exchange knowing glances but follow Caroline through the foyer and into the living room area.

Much to Bonnie's dismay, her plan to avoid Kai is instantly thwarted as she comes face to face with him upon turning the corner. He's holding a bag of pretzels in one hand, popping them into his mouth lazily. At least this time, she notices, he's fully dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and not half naked.

"What the hell are you doing with my pretzels?" Caroline demands, zooming to his side to snatch the bag out of his grasp. "These snacks are off-limits to you."

"Aw, c'mon," he argues, dusting his fingers off on his pants. "It's not like the Salvatore Brooding House has anything besides bourbon in it." He grins. "Get it? Brooding? 'Cause their foreheads-"

"Woah, woah, woah," Damon interrupts, stepping into the room from the kitchen. Stefan is on his heels, shaking his head. "I'll have you know the 'forehead' thing is all Stefan. The only vampire here capable of brooding to the level of forehead-scrunching is the one that's eating squirrels for breakfast."

"What- _ever_ ," Kai says with a dismissive wave, flopping down on the couch and looking at the group expectantly. "So are we getting this show on the road or what?"

"With _you_?" Caroline spats, throwing the bag of pretzels down onto the table. "Give me a break."

"C'mon, Caroline," Bonnie speaks up, stepping forward. "Let's just ignore him. You know that's the only thing that will actually bother him, with his frail little insecure mind." She shoots him a glare before deliberately striding over, throwing her things down and flopping into an armchair. Kai runs a tongue over his teeth, not breaking eye contact with her as he puts both feet up on the table. Bonnie can practically feel the sparks flying between them.

"God, fine, whatever," Caroline says, turning to leave the room. "I'll be right back. I need to get the drinks."

"I'll help," Elena declares, and quickly follows after her.

"So this is a nice little gathering, huh?" Stefan pipes up, breaking the silence. "You know, aside from the whole Kai thing and the fact my mother is locked up in the basement right now."

"She's _what_?" Bonnie demands, finally looking away from Kai. Kai seems displeased with this and scoots closer to the edge of the couch to try and get her attention.

"Oh, yeah," Stefan continues dryly. "She was going on a Ripper binge, and she can't stop talking about trying to free her little friends from the 1903 Prison World. So, uh, we're giving her a fun little family dry-out."

"If you hear any uncharacteristic screams in the middle of the night, it's Mommy Dearest," Damon adds, taking a swig out of his glass.

"Stefan, you can't let her out," Bonnie continues, furrowing her brows. "We're not going back for her friends. It took an enormous amount of magic just to get a handful of us there and back."

"Oh, _oh_ , that's me. I helped," Kai pipes up. "And then Bonster almost stabbed me to death and gave me this gnarly scar. _Ahh_ , yeah- good times."

"Listen, jackass, we've all nearly killed each other at some point," Damon interjects. "Just because you have a schoolgirl crush on her and it hurt your feelings doesn't mean we wanna hear about it over and over again."

"Try anything ever again and the next time I stab you I won't miss," Bonnie says coolly, and the grin momentarily fades from Kai's face.

Before anyone can speak up again, Caroline and Elena return with the bourbon and Jello shots. They arrange everything on the middle table, and by the time everything is situated Kai has somehow snatched the open bag of pretzels again and is eating them in the background.

"Alright," Caroline says, pushing the blond locks from her face. "Truth or Dare, youngest goes first."

"Bonnie, that's you. Caroline and I were born in '92 and you were '93," Elena says, grinning. "Pick one."

Bonnie weighs her options- if she picks truth, Caroline will most likely ask the question. Since she and Elena know her to a fault, she runs a risk of being asked something more probing than usual. "Dare," she says finally, squaring her shoulders up.

"Dare," Caroline drawls, standing up. "Bold. I like it." She taps a finger on her chin. "How abouuuut- we draw from a pile." Rustling her hand into a red solo cup, she withdrawls a tiny slip of paper and turns it over. Her smile falters.

"'Unwrap a jolly rancher using just your tongue and find a way to transfer it into the mouth of the person sitting to your left.' That's... Kai," she says slowly, looking troubled.

Bonnie feels heat rush into her cheeks and isn't sure if it's from anger or embarrassment. "Are you serious, Caroline? What kind of dares did you put into that thing?"

"Look, I got them from a website and printed them out, okay?" Caroline says in defense, placing the cup back down on the table. She grabs a green apple jolly rancher from one of the snack bowls and tosses it to Bonnie, who catches it on instinct with one hand. "It's the dare you got, Bonnie. Those are the rules. _Sorry_."

Bonnie risks a glance at Kai, who is grinning a shit-eating grin into his fist. "You heard her, Bon. Jolly rancher me." Standing, he gingerly moves over to her spot in the chair and perches on the armrest. "You know you want to," he continues in a lower, sing-song voice.

She wants to either slap him or tear into his chest but refrains if only for the sake of Caroline's ridiculous party. "Fine," she says sweetly, sitting up straighter. She would not show this affecting her in any way- not to him. "I hope you choke on it."

Popping the fully wrapped jolly rancher in her mouth, she swishes it around and toys at it with her tongue until she starts to feel it unravel. Using the edges of her teeth, she begins to pry the plastic from it to the best of her ability.

"Just give him the stupid jolly rancher before I either snap all of your necks or mine," Damon complains, sinking into the couch next to Elena.

Bonnie gives him a glare but manages to dislodge the candy from its wrapper. Surprising almost everyone, she leans forward and seizes both of Kai's cheeks in her hands. Digging her nails into his skin as hard as she can, she brings his mouth to hers and uses her tongue to pop the candy onto his. Their lips only brush for a fraction of a second, but Bonnie feels a powerful stirring in her chest that's almost like hatred and... something else. Her nerves feel electrified, and heat travels from her lower regions to her toes. She imagines, for just a fraction of a second, that she's shoving her tongue into his mouth and pushing the stupid candy down his throat so he chokes.

Snapping herself out of it, she lets go of him and sits back in the chair. "Now get out of my face."

He looks slightly dazed but has a smoldering look in his eyes as he sucks the candy.

"Feisty," Kai says, looking towards the rest of the group. "Did you see how feisty that was? She nearly took half my face off." There are red marks where Bonnie's fingers had been, but he doesn't seem too bothered by this. Beaming, he jokingly dusts his hands off and returns to his spot on the edge of the couch.

"I wish she'd taken your whole head off so I don't have to hear about it," Damon gripes, throwing a wadded up candy wrapper at Kai's head.

In comparison, Caroline and Elena's expressions are both shocked and maybe even awkward. Bonnie suddenly realizes just how much she'd rather sink through the floor than be sitting in the room with them.

"Anyways," Caroline declares, clearing her throat. "Who's next?"


	5. Chapter 5

Bonnie almost can't hear Kai through the roaring in her ears. "Shh, shhh," he soothes, his lips brushing against her cheek as his fingers curl into the soft flesh of her neck. Fire ignites under her skin and she isn't sure if it's pure hatred or something more.

In the dream, she has a knife. Taking it, she plunges it into his neck and twists the handle. He gasps, choking, and his fingers loosen from around her.

"Don't _ever_ lay your hands on me again," she hisses, taking his chin in her fingers and turning his head towards her. Their lips are only a few centimeters from each other, and if she breathes or moves even a little she knows they'll be touching.

She looks down at his lips as he chokes, the life bleeding from his dark blue eyes. So supple and soft. Something about him looks innocent as he dies, and she relishes it. Savors that she put him in his place.

And then she jolts awake, but she's not in the Salvatore guest room like she had been when she'd gone to sleep.

She's sitting on a different bed, her knees on the edge of the mattress. She's holding someone's throat, and the skin is soft and warm.

 _It's Kai_ , she realizes in a rush _._ She's been sleep-walking and now she's in his bedroom. His dark eyes shine in the dark, looking up at her with an entertained grin on his face.

"So you know that thing I said about you having a thing for choking me?" he says, and his voice is a rumble of desire. "I'm into it."

Bonnie gasps, releasing his throat and pulling back. She can see a rise in the sheets near his groin and is almost positive it's exactly what she thinks it is.

"Bon, _please_ with the embarrassed act. Just _do it_ ," he whispers the last part.

She doesn't know what possesses her, but she feels a fire erupt in her veins again and suddenly her fingers are latched around his neck again. She squeezes, watching his lips part as he starts to choke. His eyes are big in the dark and filled with a kind of pain that makes Bonnie flush with excitement. His skin is awash in the moonlight, and she wants to tear it off.

"Don't you dare use that tone with me," she says, and almost doesn't recognize the sound of her own voice. It's self-righteous and she knows it. It's a quality of her that she'd always been aware of— especially with Damon constantly rubbing it in her face. But it's almost more than that this time— it's scolding or condescending. Like she wants to belittle him.

Like she wants to humiliate him until it douses the fire in her veins.

Moving unexpectedly, she straddles him and feels the hard lump in the sheets pressing against her. The warmth excites her and she squeezes her fingers tighter, digging into his flesh.

He chokes and makes a sound that vaguely resembles a gasp of her name. A thrill runs up her spine, and she releases him just enough to give him a gasp of fresh air. He's looking up at her now, eyes smoldering.

And she snaps out of it. _Kai's bedroom_ , she realizes again. She's in Kai's bedroom and she's sitting on his erection.

She slides off of him and stands, taking in a shaky breath. "This never happened," she says quietly, and isn't sure if it's to convince herself or Kai. She slips out of his room and into the corridor, but her heart is still pounding in her chest.

 _xxxx_

Bonnie wonders when she wakes up in the morning how she actually wound up in the one room Kai happened to occupy. Was it something magic related? Some connection that drew them together like magnets?

She remembers his apology that night weeks ago, and the earnest look in his eyes as he said he was sorry for anything he'd done to hurt her. She knows he is.

She's just not sure how to process it. Threatening to melt his face off had seemed like the best option at the time since thunder had roared in her ears and she'd wanted to kill Damon for even thinking it was okay to bring him around her.

She'd almost _died_ in the Prison World, and Kai had left her there. That wasn't something that could just instantly be forgotten with a sorry.

But should it? She ponders the thought as she brushes her teeth, getting ready for the day. He _was_ helping her of his own volition. The mark from the unknown witch was stark against her skin, the flesh still ragged like it wouldn't heal.

She finishes brushing her teeth and dresses for the day, gathering her things for the trip. By the time she reaches the kitchen, Damon is flipping pancakes and Elena and Kai are sitting around the table. Kai is leaning back in a chair and Elena is pouring a glass of orange juice.

"Bonnie," Elena greets, standing. "Help yourself to something to eat. You've got a long trip ahead of you."

"Thanks," Bonnie replies, nodding stiffly. "Except I officially have Prison World pancake PTSD, so hard pass. Do you have any fruit?"

Elena moves to get an apple from the pantry and tosses it to her. "Aw, c'mon, they weren't that bad," Damon counters, flipping one over with a spatula. "Really the worst thing about the Prison World was being subjected to that little weasel." He points the utensil at Kai, who touches both hands to his chest.

"Wait, wait, wait," Kai interjects. "Let me get this straight— you spent _days_ listening to nothing but Pearl Jam and _I'm_ the thing you hated the most? Damon, buddy, you shouldn't have."

"Alright, no pancakes for you, smartass," Damon quips, offering Elena a plate. Smiling, she does a mini curtsy and heads back to the dining room table.

"Woah, you can't just not let me eat. What if I suddenly get hungry and siphon Bonnie for a roadside snack?" Kai asks, standing from his chair indignantly.

"Then I'll stab you in your dumb neck and leave you for dead," Bonnie says pointedly, her eyes drilling into his. "Any other stupid ideas you need to get out of your system before we go?"

"Well, see, there's this one about last night-"

A mixture of embarrassment and heated anger surge through her and the stove pops loudly as magic escapes her in a rush. "Bonnie," Damon shouts in alarm, pulling the pan from the stove-top quickly.

"Stop talking," Bonnie warns Kai, stepping towards him. She's holding the apple in her hand still and squeezes her fingers, imagining crushing it. He meets her gaze evenly, a smug smile on his lips. They only break eye contact when Elena clears her throat in the background.

"Guys. It's time for breakfast," she says, giving Bonnie a pointed look. The witch backs down, recognizing Elena's famous _'hey, can you stop_ ' expression. Giving Kai one last warning glare, she turns and heads over to her best friend. She has a feeling the drive will be a long one.

 _xxxx_

"Your eyes are really nice," Kai is saying, putting his feet up on the dashboard of her car. "They're like this emerald green, and they look like little gems you could just pluck out except, y'know, maybe _don't_ do that because they're eyes."

"Thanks," Bonnie says tightly, pressing her lips into a line as she puts the keys in the ignition and starts the car. "I think. Any chance you'll stop trying to flirt with me long enough to give me instructions to your little family witch house?"

"I dunno, any chance you'll stop pretending like you don't want to rip my clothes off?" he counters, lowering his eyelids. "Or my—"

"Don't," Bonnie says softly in response, backing the car out of the driveway. "Don't even say it."

He laughs. "Oh, you should've seen your face. You were like, totally expecting to wake up in your bed and then next thing you know you're in Kinkland with _me_. Oops."

"Oh, I'll choke you again," Bonnie says, shooting him a glare. "Just keep talking."

"Is that supposed to make me want to stop?" He grins, and Bonnie can feel his gaze on her like a magnetic force. "God, do you remember the Brady Bunch? It was still playing re-runs when I was waaay out of my crib. My parents left it on sometimes and we just watched this big, stupid family of white people do stupid stuff. It's almost like if you took the dumb white people out of horror movies and just plopped them into a sitcom—"

"Kai," Bonnie warns, realizing the other witch is never going to shut up. She's going to be in a car with him for god knows how many hours and he's never going to stop talking.

"Do you think they would just walk into the serial killer's knife? Like, if they were theoretically dropped into a horror movie? I think the mass amount of stupid would all just come together, and they'd do every stupid thing white people ever do in horror movies all at once." He starts playing with the switches on the car door, rolling his window down. The breeze blows his dark brown hair and he sticks his head out a little. He briefly reminds Bonnie of some kind of dog, or maybe a five-year-old. He has a strange innocence to him, she realizes. It's not something she wants to think about. Kai isn't innocent in any way— he can't be.

 _It's all an act_. But is it? She finds herself thinking about his apology again and for maybe the first time she isn't entirely sure.

"Do you really want another chance?" Bonnie starts suddenly, before she can really stop herself. She remembers him asking for one— in the 1903 Prison World. She still remembers the chill of the wind biting her cheeks as it swirled around them. She remembers the gentle look in his eyes and the fury burning in her heart.

"A chance?" he asks, surprised. His humorous tone slips away like water. His brows furrow a little and his eyes soften— Bonnie hates it. Hates how kind he looks when she knows he isn't.

"Yeah," she says finally. "You said you wanted another chance. This is it. Go this entire trip and help _us_ — help Mystic Falls from this mystery coven and I'll think about giving you your chance."

"Bonnie," he says, his voice a rumble. His hand travels up to hers where it lays on the steering wheel. Bonnie flinches instinctively, but he doesn't siphon her when their skin touches. "Thank you. I know it's hard— a-and I never expected you to just believe me, so—"

"No, you don't know," Bonnie says instantly, remembering the feeling of the hard concrete in the Salvatore garage as she gasped for air in her burning lungs. As she almost killed herself. "I mean, maybe some of it," she concedes. "But not what it's like to have to try forgiving people who stab you in the back or leave you for dead. Have you ever done that?" She looks at him earnestly, remembering he's killed every family member that ever slighted him.

"Yes," he says, surprising her. He's taken his hand away from hers, but he's leaning across the divider between them and his dark eyes are open and honest. "With you."

When he says it, Bonnie's first instinct is to deny it vehemently. But then she stops.

She had _killed_ him, and it still haunts her almost every night. She had killed him hoping he wouldn't escape from the Prison World because she didn't want it on her conscience. This, Bonnie realizes, was the most ironic part— because it was on her conscience anyways. From the moment she had killed him, it had started a domino effect she couldn't stop. The life leaving his eyes had thrilled her in a way she couldn't shake— she was _dark_. He'd taken her to a dark place, and she was in denial.

 _She was in denial,_ she realizes again. She and Kai were two sides of one dark, fucked up coin. For every time she had killed him, he'd stabbed her. And while she had tried to kill herself once, Kai had tried to kill himself thousands.

What was the difference? That he had killed his family? Damon Salvatore was her best friend. _Damon_.

She tightens her grip on the steering wheel. "Let's just drop it. Okay? I said what I needed to say."

Kai seems disappointed for a fraction of a second but pushes it away quickly. "Ohh-kay," he says, clearing his throat as he sits back in his seat. Just like that, the facade goes back up. "Do you like The Goo Goo Dolls?" he asks, tilting his head. "Okay band, dumb name." Reaching down onto the floorboard, he retrieves a CD case and proceeds to pop in the disc. "Kind of whiny, though."

The next few hours consist of Kai sifting through music, chatting Bonnie's ear off, and occasionally bursting into song. His karaoke was spectacularly bad, but Bonnie suspected this was the point. He finally wears down a little around two o'clock and repeatedly begs Bonnie to pull over so they can get something to eat until she agrees.

They stop at a diner called Jo's, and Kai laughs at the irony. "That's my sister's name," he says as if she wouldn't get it. "Do you think they serve up fresh twin revenge? Have brooding, scruffy college professors for waiters?"

"C'mon, Bonnie," he says as she ignores him, getting out of the car. He trots after her as she approaches the diner, and she can't help but think of how she'd compared him to a dog in her mind earlier. "It's a joke. I'm _joking_. Do you ever stop frowning?"

"Yes, Kai," she says, exasperated. "When I'm not getting my ear talked off by a nutcase for hours. It's crazy what a little bit of peaceful silence can do for a person." They push into the diner and a bell overhead rings. The fresh smell of both breakfast and lunch-type food hits Bonnie in a wave and she suddenly realizes how starving she is.

"Al-right," Kai relents, following after her as she picks a booth near the entrance. The diner has a 50s kind of aesthetic, with black and white tiling and a jukebox near the bar. They slide into the red, leather booths and Bonnie immediately seizes a menu. She figures if she can keep herself busy, she doesn't have to look up at Kai's smug face.

"Bonniiie," he drawls out her name, attempting to peer over the menu she's holding. " _Bon_. You in there?"

Her stomach twists- _he's trying to be cute_. "What?" she demands, lowering it a little.

"Do you wanna share?" he asks, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "Did you see that old guy's plate we passed on the way in? There was like, ten pounds of food on there. Probably going to give him a trucker heart attack."

Bonnie glances at the booth one away from them and sees a heavier set, older man with a ballcap and greasy looking t-shirt on. He's eating his way into a burger that's practically the size of her face. Knowing Kai and how much food he usually consumes, though, Bonnie realizes this request is probably just a part of his big plot to somehow get closer to her.

"Fine," she says, surprising herself. "But I get to pick what we order." She wonders if maybe this is something she _wants_ to do. Or maybe it's just because she did say this would be his chance to fix things. She decides she isn't sure.

 _xxxx_


	6. Chapter 6

Even when Kai thought he knew what love was, he hadn't really.

He'd thought it was back before he was the family Siphoner and his mother was still holding out hope he might just be some kind of late bloomer. When she'd patched up his scraped knees or given him toys for Christmas.

But Kai hadn't really felt much of anything, really. Not until Joey had screamed in that sandbox the day he'd siphoned his magic.

He was a sociopath- there was no hiding it. He remembered the fear in Joshua Parker's eyes when he'd found out his one son that had taken up a fascination in pulling the wings off of butterflies had become the family black sheep.

But then the Merge happened, and Kai _really_ felt. It wasn't anything all at once, no- it was a slow trickle of emotions and thoughts and the dreaded guilt he had never understood or expected.

And then there was Bonnie. The girl he'd wanted to suffocate; the firey Bennett witch who'd stabbed him in the neck and in the heart. He'd thought at first maybe it was a fascination with the way she was so good and yet so dark. No one had ever challenged him or put him in his place like she had- not with as much _energy_ and spark in her eyes.

Kai had felt arousal before, as his nature had never prevented him from his sexual side. If anything it exacerbated it. He'd thought maybe that was the deal with Bonnie- that maybe he had some dark fantasy he wanted to play out with her. Take her alone somewhere in the Prison World and fuck her senseless while she stabbed him to death. He'd been sick, and he knew it. Picturing her moaning under him while he jerked himself off.

But Luke's emotions had other ideas beyond just this. From the second Jeremy had asked him to save her and he'd almost died to do it, he was transfixed by her. Lust wasn't just lust anymore but instead, worry and care. All he did was think about her; how she was, how she was coping. She had made him feel and realize things he had never experienced, but more than that she'd shown him what normal relationships and loving companions were like. The way her friends fought tooth and nail to get her out of the Prison World made him realize he wanted to be apart of something he had never even considered before.

He thought maybe he loved her. Maybe it was some sick, twisted version of it, but still, love. He had never loved anyone, he'd realized. The Gemini Coven had never been his family or his destiny. There was one thing he wanted, and it was Bonnie Bennett.

 _xxxx_

"Bonnie, you can't just _not_ sleep," Kai says, turning the music down with the dial.

The two had been on the road again, and it was late in the night when the Gemini witch had forfeited and started trying to convince her that it was time to pull over to get some rest. She had a determination about her that Kai admired, but he also thought she was a little crazy for attempting to drive over twenty-four hours without a real break.

"I'm fine," she says in a clipped tone, hands still firmly on the steering wheel. "Shouldn't you be wailing at the top of your lungs right now to the tune of 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls?"

"Hey, that was a good four hours ago. Can I not retire myself to making sure my driver doesn't crash the car and kill both of us because she needs a nap?" he retorts, rolling the sleeves up on his hoodie. "Bonnie, you're a witch, not Santa Claus- your magical elves aren't going to resuscitate you when you crash your red sleigh of justice into a tree." He grinned. "As funny as that image might be."

"Look, just quit your yammering and maybe I'll consider pulling over and getting a freakin' hotel," Bonnie says in reply. Kai grins to himself— it's cute that she still pretends everything he says is torture.

"Ohhhh-kay," he says, tracing a finger across the creases of the buttons on his car door. Kai can feel her occasionally glancing over and watching him; probably trying to figure out what he's doing. He relishes every second of her attention.

When they finally stop at a hotel, it's an inn off the highway. Kai rubs his hands together excitedly when they walk into the lobby and he notices the breakfast lounge. Ignoring him with a shake of her head, Bonnie walks to the front desk to check them in.

Kai pretends to busy himself in the lobby, checking his shoes and even fiddling with an umbrella holder near the front door. He's really thinking about Bonnie and how close they'll be when they go to sleep tonight— how he might hear her breathing slow and the sheets rustle around her body. _So close._

Finally, she turns around with keys to the room. She gives him a weird look and he drops the umbrella he's holding. "Coming?"

He comes, and he's relatively positive he would do so anytime and any way Bonnie requests it of him.

"There are two beds," Bonnie says in the elevator, breaking the brief silence. "Obviously. Pick whichever one and just get to sleep. We have another twenty-four hour stretch of road in front of us, so."

"Are you nervous?" he asks, and he knows it sounds nothing short of mocking. "Ugh, me too. Palms are sweaty." He raises them from his pockets as if to show her.

"If you think anything about sharing a hotel room with you makes me nervous, then you're talking to the wrong witch," Bonnie says, as if on reflex.

Kai grins like he's the Devil. " _Really_?" He laughs. "See _, I_ was actually talking about the family reunion stuff, but I guess I see your point. Got this way in high school, too, the first time a girl tried to ask me to get a hotel." He tries to watch the expression on Bonnie's face, but she's already walking off the elevator and onto their floor. "I said no, of course. I went through this really pretentious stage where the only thing I cared about was torture porn and video games."

"How fitting," Bonnie says sweetly, and Kai can see what he thinks are the remains of a flush in her cheeks. The idea that he may have caused it in any way excites him instantly.

The Bennett witch unlocks the door for them and they go inside, Kai flicking the lights on.

It's a cozy room with a freshly scrubbed carpet and two beds only a foot and a half apart.

"I'm taking a shower," Kai says abruptly, dropping his bag on the bed he claims as his. "Try not to scald the skin off my body with your witchy-woo. I know you've been awfully kinky lately."

He says it in a low voice and isn't sure if it's his eyes playing tricks on him or if he actually sees her shudder.

"I don't need the 411, Kai," Bonnie says, but he swears her tone is softer. More of a purr. "Just take a shower and leave me alone."

"Alright, alright." He grins.

 _xxxx_

When Kai comes out of the shower, the room has darkened and Bonnie lays in the bed closest to the window. He can just barely see her form in the dark, tucked against the comforter. He wonders if she can see him until she speaks up.

"Really? This isn't an underwear show. You couldn't wear a pair of PJs?"

He'd hung the towel up in the bathroom, but changing into his sleep attire had seemed the most sensical thing to do. "What? Too tempting? I have to say; the duck boxers have definitely won out with the ladies." He's referring to the print of small yellow ducks adorning them that is so nondescript one could miss it if they weren't looking hard enough.

"Mmm," Bonnie agrees. "Because rubber ducky toys are typically such a turn on."

Kai is rounding over to his bed now but smiles at her in the dark. "I mean, imagine all of the fun things you could do with them. I could think of a good place for its head... maybe a decent use for the squeezing." His voice is a rasp of desire and he wonders if it carries.

He hears Bonnie rustling around in the comforter and the blood rushes between his legs.

"Gross," she says finally, and he doesn't believe it. "Get some sleep, Kai." The words leave her mouth, but they're weak-willed. He can hear her caving and he savors every second of it.

xxxx

It's the middle of the night when he wakes to her screams.

Bonnie is shouting, but the bigger problem quickly becomes apparent as he wakes— the sheets of her bed are on fire.

Jumping out of bed, he stumbles to the hallway of the corridor the pry the fire extinguisher out of its case beside the stairwell. With scrambling feet, he rushes back into the room and procures the extinguisher on the sheets. Spraying, he does his best to aim at most of the flames until they die down. Dropping the tank, he dives for her and helps pull her away from the bed.

"Bonnie," he says. His hands touch her arms but he resists siphoning her. "Bonnie, are you okay? Look at me."

She does, and a couple of tears stain her cheeks. She looks confused, startled and even angry. "I'm okay." But then she bursts into tears.

He holds her— it's the most natural thing to do. Kai scoffs at this, somewhere deep down. The idea that any kind of consolation given to another human being would come naturally to him is laughable, yet here he is.

He feels her warm against his chest as he holds her close. Bonnie is short compared to him, but he doesn't mind it. He realizes this is the first time anyone has tucked into him like this and his heart stutters.

The two don't speak much after this. Bonnie pushes him away eventually as if realizing what she's done, but they don't talk. He knows what it's about— he can see it in her eyes. She was dreaming about the Prison World; maybe even the time they'd met and she'd first gotten her magic back.

Kai offers her his bed and she doesn't decline.

"If you think this means anything, then you're sorely mistaken," she says, gathering her voice again.

"Bonnie," he replies as if this is enough. A promise, a question and a simple statement all in two syllables.

He pulls back the comforter for her and she slides in. She's inches away from him, centimeters, and Kai can't breathe.

He can feel the heat pouring off of her form, and it slowly lulls him to sleep.

 _xxxx_


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hello, friends. Just a quick warning before you read this one- 100% of this chapter is rated M level smut. If graphic depictions of sex make you uncomfortable (along with mild Sadomasochism), I would suggest not giving this a read. Thanks. 3

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When Bonnie wakes in the morning, she feels Kai's legs tangled with hers. Her skin feels like it's burning at every spot the two of them touch, but she's frozen in place. She feels his hot breath on her neck and it dawns on her that he's spooning her from the back.

And then she notices his arm tucked over her and the warm, hard lump pressing against her behind. A shiver runs through her involuntarily, and she feels him rustle against her.

"Bonster?"

His voice is low and husky but light-hearted nonetheless, tickling her right ear.

"You awake in there?" She hears the grin in his voice. He's trying to joke around with her, she realizes, and they've barely been awake for more than five seconds into the day. "You slept like a baby. Not that like, you _are_ a baby or anything. 'Cuz then I wouldn't be spooning you right now." He brings his mouth closer to her ear, and the lust in his whisper strikes warmth deep in her belly. "With my penis on your butt."

Bonnie turns toward him now, tearing from his arms as she rolls her body to face him. They're still close— too close for her comfort. Her eyes flicker to his naked chest, and then his disheveled dark hair. His eyes are dark with desire, and the confrontation of actually seeing this sends excitement coursing through her veins. She studies the tiny details of his face, like the small scar between his eyebrows and his supple lower lip.

Bonnie begins to realize that she hasn't spoken a word.

She kisses him. It's a quick decision, and one that makes the heat between her legs flare into a crescendo.

She could feel his shock, and then sudden desperation as his lips parted instantly to welcome hers. The hesitation was only a fraction of a second and then their lips were sliding against each other, wet and hot, with his tongue delving into her mouth to meet hers. He lets out a soft moan and the throbbing in her lower regions only grows in intensity. She's sliding her hands into his dark hair now, feeling the softness against her fingers.

But then his hands touched her arms. He did it because she was shifting on top of him, still kissing him as she straddled his hips. As soon as their skin makes contact, she feels the familiar, harsh sensation of siphoning ripple across her flesh. Kai's fingertips are warm, and she feels the magic siphoning out of her and into him.

Breaking her mouth from his, she lets out a cry of pain and he immediately releases her.

"Oh, god," he says, and she can see the shame filling his eyes. "Bon, I'm—"

Kai starts to apologize, but she cuts him off with another kiss. This time, as their lips collide, she realizes how much she urgently needs every square inch of him.

It's wrong, she thinks. She _knows_. She knows she's making out with a guy who murdered half of his family and almost killed her at least twice, but for once she doesn't care. She just wants to show him every burning moment she had ever felt around him wrapped up into one single kiss.

She wants to tear him apart, she realizes. Tear into his skin until she feels what it's like— become one with him like the darkest part of her had always begged for the moment his lips had brushed her cheek in Damon's car. _The moment his hot breath had washed over her and that tingling started like a fire in her groin._

All of this runs through her mind as she grinds her hips down onto the lump in his underwear and sloppily runs her tongue along the inside of his lower lip. The contact of their genitals, even through the thin fabric of Kai's underwear, fills her with an excited fire she knows she won't be able to put out.

"Siphon me," she whispers to him and realizes she can hardly recognize herself. When she speaks again, it's in a louder, demanding voice. "Just do it, Kai."

She sees the darkness spark in his blue eyes, and then his hands slip up under her shirt, sliding across the skin of her back. The rush of pain is almost blinding, and she feels the magic suction out of her almost like through a straw.

"Yes," she gasps, twisting against him. It flashes through her eyes— the first time he'd siphoned her magic to make a point to Damon. Bonnie remembers the touch of his skin and the burning desire she'd repressed.

She wanted it. Somewhere deep, deep down, she needed it.

His mouth collided with hers again while she moaned, and she felt his tongue probe her mouth once more. Bonnie wonders passively what would happen if she just bit it off. She doesn't. Tasting him is almost more than she can handle, and she feels like her heart is going to hammer from her chest as her lips slide over his.

Kai removes his right hand, leaving the left to siphon, and slides it down to her pajama pants. She knows what's coming, but still cries out at the mixture of pain from the siphoning and pleasure from the feeling of his thumb rolling against her underwear to stimulate her clit. She knows she's wet and feels the soaked underwear fold into her as he rubs her with growing rhythm.

Finally, he releases his left hand from her, halting the siphon. Using the free hand, he tugs her shirt off wildly, pulling it as it catches on her hair.

Bonnie, remembering she had taken off her bra before bed, isn't surprised when her breasts fall free. Kai is, however, and his brows raise a bit at the sight of them.

He pushes her back, and she feels herself fall into the mattress. Clambering on top of her, Kai uses his fingers to rip her pants and panties down and off. It doesn't take long before his underwear is off, too, and Bonnie lets out a small breath at the sight of his length springing free.

"My turn, Bonster," he breathes, and shoves her naked body down just as she tries to sit up.

She feels his lips against her neck, sucking her skin softly and swirling his tongue against it. The sensitive area feels good and wet under his mouth, causing pins of heat to flare in her groin. He slowly works his way down until he reaches her breasts, taking one in his mouth to suck. Bonnie feels herself clenching the sheets of the bed in her fists, squeezing her eyes shut as he began to travel lower.

His fingers dance along her skin playfully, and every time he touches her she feels the red-hot pain of his siphoning abilities sucking more of the life out of her. It arouses her even further, putting her on the brink. She lets out a hiss as his finger trails below her belly button.

"Naughty girl," he says, his tone full of dry humor. "This is what you wanted all along." He grins, and for a moment she forgets this isn't the same Kai from the 1994 Prison World. "Wasn't it? Every time I siphoned you, you just wanted to be fucked." Bonnie realizes how strange it is to hear the last word coming from his mouth, in his voice, talking to _her_. She's practically dripping.

"Well, I have news for you," he says, bringing his mouth to her ear. His fingers slip into the wetness of her folds, and she gasps at the contact with her clit. It practically thrums against his touch, shooting pleasure throughout her body. "I've wanted to play this little game from the second I saw you." He strokes her gently and she can feel her juices gushing against his fingers. "I've always wanted you, Bonnie."

And then his fingers slip into her opening. He grasps one breast in his free hand, fondling it as he fucks in and out of her.

She gasps, feeling tremors of pleasure roll through her body as she gazes up into his eyes. She can hear the harsh, sloppy sound of her juices as his fingers enter and recede from her passage, and she realizes in a sudden rush what's happening. What she's doing.

The idea that her arch-nemesis is finger fucking her in a hotel room when none of her friends know what's going on between them is both horrifying and exhilarating. Bonnie can feel herself climaxing, and when he strokes against her clit again she orgasms for the first time.

The second time is when he buries his face in her genitals. Lapping at the excess juices, he digs his tongue into her warmth and she lets out another gasp. Bucking her hips up in a spasm, she grinds herself against his face as he grabs hold of both of her thighs. Fucking her with his tongue, he slides it in and out, occasionally stopping to give a slurp.

"Kai," she gasps his name and orgasms a second time. Her body clenches, pleasure coursing through her with a ferocity she had never experienced before.

Hardly giving her any time to recover, Kai sits up, sliding his length into her with ease. He fucks her in and out, grasping her thighs still as he leans forward. The sensation of Kai's hardness inside of her is enough to start putting her over the edge again quicker than she thought was possible, and she takes a shuddering breath.

Bonnie reaches up, her fingers digging into his back as he pumps in and out of her. She wants to fuck him senseless; savor the feeling of him over and over until all of her traumas melt away and it becomes just them.

Bonnie grinds against him, urging him on with her hips until she feels the third orgasm overtake her. She starts to relax and Kai pulls out, grabbing hastily for the sheets. He cums, the light in his eyes dulling as he grasps his softening penis and slowly pulls it from what had now become a makeshift hotel jizz rag.

The two of them sit, breathing heavily.

And Bonnie doesn't know what to do with herself.


	8. Chapter 8

Kai thinks again that maybe he loves her. He stares at her, their chests still heaving, and realizes with clarity that he would die for her.

He almost _had_ , the second Jeremy had asked him to use the last of his power to save her life from the Prison World. He'd thought he was done for it until Damon's blood had saved him.

Here is this girl, he thinks, who despite everything that's happened to her can still smile and love and be on the side of good. She'd had every reason not to believe him when he apologized but she'd still been generous enough to offer a second chance.

 _And human touch_ , he realizes. After spending a lifetime being shunned for his siphoning touch, she craves it. Makes love to him. He wonders if she's an angel.

Bonnie is standing now, rushing to get dressed again. He rolls over in the sheets, carefully avoiding the jizz-drenched spot, and places his face in his hands. "Bonnie?" he asks, kicking his feet in the air like he's a child. "Whatcha doin'?"

The Bennett witch is yanking on her pants and glances at him with mixed emotions shining in her beautiful green eyes. Kai thinks about how long her hair has gotten since he first met her in the Prison World; it's starting to tumble over her shoulders in dark curls. _She's gorgeous._

"Putting my clothes on, like you should be," she says shortly. Disappointment wells in Kai's stomach, but he doesn't blame her either. Five seconds ago she'd been telling him nothing would go on between the two.

"What fun is that?" he asks, and when she shoots him another look he gives her a wink. "I liked getting all tousled and rowdy with you, Bon. But, then, I guess you always knew that right?" he smirks, but starts to stand up anyway. When Bonnie's gaze immediately flicks over his naked figure, hope swells back in his chest.

" _Alright_ , I'll get dressed like a civilized person. But you just let me know if you're feelin'—"

"Kai, it was a mistake," Bonnie interrupts, but he sees the way she turns around when she does. She's trying not to meet his eyes. He watches her clasp her bra back on and slip a shirt over her head without saying anything. "Let's just focus on what we're out here for, okay?" Her words aren't entirely without compassion, but it still hurts him nonetheless.

Kai thinks she's a goddess, but to her, he's just some bad habit or desire she can't seem to shake. He moves to get dressed, trying to ignore the pangs of emotion that are making his throat close up. _Damn Luke and damn his ridiculous emotions._

 _xxxx_

Less than an hour later, after watching Kai shovel down free waffles and eggs, the two witches are on the road again.

Bonnie tries to keep her thoughts from straying to their morning spent rolling around in the sheets, but the more she tries to isolate the memories the more they plague her mind. Kai has a glow about him, too- an after-sex glow that makes his eyes brighter and his messy hair more attractive. She tells herself she can't think of him like this; that her time spent flirting with the dark side has to be a thing of the past. She passively thinks about how Elena has slept with Damon and Caroline has slept with Klaus and her stomach turns over. She loves her best friends but has never fully accepted or come to terms with their romantic decisions.

 _And here she is with Kai._ She glances over at him as he shamelessly karaokes to Fell On Black Days by Soundgarden.

"You're going to pop a lung if you don't watch out there, Chris Cornell," she says dryly, passively watching the green scenery as it rolls past. The Rocky Mountains loom in the distance as a constant reminder of their presence in Wyoming. She knows they're less than twenty hours away from Portland, so a confrontation with Kai's father is on the near horizon.

"And then what, Bonster? Going to resuscitate me with your witchy-woo so we can get a little weird in the backseat?" He grins like this is funny to him. "Nah, I kid. I know you actually just want me to choke and die so this is all easier for you." He says this in a low musing tone, fiddling with the fabric of the car seat.

"I mean, I wasn't going to say it like _that_ ," Bonnie replies, but this time it's clear she's joking. She feels a pang of regret- it's clear he's covering up his actual feelings with incessant flippancy, but then again this is practically his entire personality. "So... What do you think will happen with your dad when he sees you?" The question hasn't really been asked before and she knows it should.

Kai snorts. "I dunno, how lucky are you feeling? Depending on the mood, he'll either passive-aggressively help us out because I'm the newly minted leader of the Gemini Coven, _or_ he'll freak out and try to either kill or subdue us just for showing our faces on his front door. _Well_ \- maybe not kill us, per say. If he kills me, _whoopsy daisy_ , he croaks too. Surprise, dead witches everywhere."

"I know how it works. I'm asking you if you think he'll give a rat's ass enough to actually help out." Bonnie sets her jaw. If Damon's recounts of Joshua Parker tell her anything, it's that he's neither a force to be reckoned with or a friend to be had. Grams had either liked or had a strong enough alliance with the Gemini Coven to help imprison Kai, though, so she wonders if this will help him trust her at all. _Probably not when you're wrapped around his son like a pole,_ she thinks, kicking herself mentally. She wonders what Grams would think of her now.

"Eh," Kai says, shrugging. "I'm sure he'll help himself out. Daddy Parker is nothing if not a self-preservationist." The mocking venom in his voice is practically palpable.

Bonnie wonders if Kai maybe takes more after Joshua than he thinks.

 _xxxx_

Bonnie lays awake that night staring at the carved mark in her flesh from the witch. It still looks like a scar that won't heal, with the skin fraying the edges a dull pink. She wonders if it's the key to the linking spell and if she cut off her skin it would break.

She pushes the intrusive thought away immediately but lays back on her pillow and sighs. She can hear Kai's light snores on the other side of the room where he lays in the second bed. It's hard not to remember what his warmth had been like the moment she had needed it most.

 _The old Kai is still in there._ Bonnie wonders if she's lying to herself- pushing away her feelings for moment to moment comfort in some desperate attempt to convince herself she's nothing like him even though she is.

She has a hard time sleeping that night.

 _xxxx_

When she wakes, Kai is walking around naked. He's making coffee at the hotel room's cheap coffee pot across from her bed on the long table. The golden light filtering in the room illuminates his beautiful back, and Bonnie can't help when her eyes flit automatically to his backside. When he turns his head, she realizes he's shaved his face again, keeping the stubble that sometimes comes to his jaw at bay. He looks soft and pretty, with his dark hair and bare face. Bonnie knows better, though- she remembers that same face smirking in hers when he siphoned and tried to kill her. If she had learned anything it was that Kai's looks had never been indicative of what he was truly capable of.

She clears her throat and he turns, raising his brows.

"Oh, hello," he greets, holding up a styrofoam cup of coffee. "Sleep well? Dreams of unicorns and witchy cult sacrifices and all of that?"

"The usual," Bonnie agrees, sitting up in bed. "Also, if you don't mind me asking, what in the hell gave you the spectacular idea to walk around in the nude like you own the place?"

"Oh, come _on_ , Bonster. It's nothing you haven't seen before." He looks amused. "Look, if you see anything you haven't seen before, throw a dollar at it. _Thanks_." Tipping the cup back, he takes a few swallows.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Bonnie starts to get out of bed.

"No, no, no," Kai interrupts, almost choking on his coffee as he puts it down. "Don't move. I have a surprise." Rushing to the other side of the room, he disappears in the entrance corridor for a few minutes. Before Bonnie can consider moving again, he returns holding a tray full of food.

There are two eggs, sunny side up, a couple slices of bacon and some orange juice. He presents it to her, plopping it down into her lap.

Bonnie looks up at him, eyes earnest. "Seriously? Did you go down, get breakfast and then come up here only to take your clothes _back_ off?"

Kai grins a shit-eating grin. "Maybe," he admits sheepishly.

"Well," the Bennett witch says, looking down at her plate with mixed emotions. "Thanks? I guess." If anyone had told her a month ago Kai the Siphoning Serial Killer would be serving her breakfast in bed, she might've had a stroke.

"Just think of it as an apology that you had to wake up to the dreaded sight of my backside," he says, and she can hear the heavy sarcasm as he walks away.

Bonnie eyes his retreating figure and almost swears she feels butterflies in her stomach.

 _xxxx_

Seeing the Parker house again is triggering for Bonnie to say the least. Memories of the Prison World resurface in her mind, including the one where she was held captive in a trunk by Kai only to be stabbed shortly thereafter. The fact she'd had sex with him less than twenty-four hours ago is mind-boggling.

Their car is pulled up into the driveway, and the house looks similar to how it did in 1994 with some minor changes. It definitely still looks lived in, with freshly-trimmed hedges and newly painted siding.

Bonnie glances at Kai, who looks just as uncomfortable as she does. He gives a swallow and then a feeble look in her direction. "Home sweet home," he finally says, starting to push open the car door.

"Think your dad is home?" Bonnie asks, stepping out of the car after him. "Doesn't have much of a social life between wrangling his sociopathic son and leading a cult, right?"

"Oh, you mean besides the baking?" Kai says in response, and Bonnie isn't sure if he's joking or not so she gives him a look. She follows him up the stairs to their porch, standing not far behind as he gives the door a solid couple knocks.

The two witches are only waiting for what feels like a few minutes before the door swings open and they're met with the sight of Joshua Parker.

His peppered gray hair is messily styled and he's dressed in a dark button down with blue jeans. Bonnie can imagine his hair must've been dark like Kai and Jo's before going silver. She wonders if Liv and Luke received the fair-haired gene from their mother.

The look being shared between Joshua and Kai is one of contempt, uneasiness and maybe even some kind of fear. For a long few seconds, no one says anything.

"Hi," Bonnie offers as a greeting. She steps forward, holding out her hand, and Joshua hesitantly shakes it. "My name is Bonnie. Bonnie Bennett. You knew my grams, Sheila?"

"Yes," he says, nodding slowly. "Yes, I did. You must be the Bennett witch that let my son escape. Call me Joshua." His eyes flit to Kai, a cold look washing over his features. "Nice to see our coven leader for the first time since the Merge. Come in." Something told Bonnie that seeing Kai wasn't as nice as Joshua was claiming, but she steps over the threshold and follows the Parkers inside nonetheless.

"With all due respect, Mr. Parker, I didn't _let_ Kai escape. He stabbed me in the stomach with your daughter's knife and left on his own accord," Bonnie says stubbornly, crossing her arms as they pass through the foyer and into the dining room.

Joshua smiles weakly, but it's almost more like a grimace. He gestures for Kai and Bonnie to sit, and they take their respective seats at the dining room table.

 _It's just like when we had Thanksgiving dinner,_ Bonnie realizes, thinking back on her time spent with Kai in the Prison World. The dining room looks different, but it's still somehow more familiar to her than she's comfortable with.

"I may have done horrible things to Bonnie," Kai finally says, speaking for the first time since confronted with his father's face, "But everything I did was because _you_ left me to circle the drain for _eighteen_ years. Now, I don't know what constitutes a dad of the year award but it sure as hell isn't that." He's tense, and more worked up than Bonnie has seen him in a long time. His hands are tight on the edge of the table and his rings glint in the sunlight. Every bit of flippancy he typically uses to deflect emotions has slipped away, and Bonnie wonders if it's because that's what seeing his father does to him- puts him back in that volatile place he had tried so hard to cover up with acts of evil or incessant jokes.

"What, then," Joshua begins, and Bonnie can hear the crack in his voice, "do you propose we should have done, huh? After our magic-less son _murdered_ half of our coven. After you murdered _my_ family." His eyes are dark, swirling voids of pain, not unlike his son's.

"I don't know, anything else?" Kai snarls, leaning forward. "Therapy? _Regular_ jail? I didn't have magic, Daddy Dearest. Or did you forget that when you were caught up in your self-righteous journey to teach your devil son some manners?"

Bonnie swallows uncomfortably and clears her throat. "As heartwarming as it is to see you guys work out your family drama, this is not why we're here." She shoots Kai a look, and he glances away quickly, avoiding her gaze.

"Why, then, may I ask, have you brought my estranged son that murdered all of my children to my doorstep?" Joshua asks, and his expression is eerily calm.

"We have a witch problem," she starts, pulling the sleeve over her arm down to reveal the mark burned in her flesh. "In and around Mystic Falls— the place where both of your daughters are currently living. There was a ritual sacrifice in the girls' dormitory at Whitemore College and Kai says the runes on the body look familiar." Pulling out her smartphone, Bonnie leans forward to show Joshua the photos of the corpse. His eyes glaze over and his mouth hardens.

"One of the grimoires in the attic," he says slowly, swallowing. "The runes belong to the Sagittarian Coven, a neighboring witch community to us. They have... a tendency to travel, and their methods of obtaining and keeping magic can be gruesome. I can give you access to the attic, but I will not help you. My daughters are free to join me in Portland and leave Mystic Falls behind for safe harbor, but I refuse to give the aid to a Bennett witch who is both allying with my son and has broken the alliance we forged with Sheila." He crosses his fingers, and his expression is grim. "I suggest you get to work."

Kai laughs, pushing back from his chair to stand up. "Have you forgotten that I'm your _leader_ , now? You should consider yourself lucky that I've had my fill on seeing your face by now because I could turn you to ash with a snap of my fingers."

"Kai," Bonnie warns, also standing. "Kai, let's just get the stupid grimoire and let's get the hell out of here." She shoots Joshua a glare. He knows damn well that Grams would disapprove of his behavior, including both the blame he's placing on her for Kai's escape and the fact he's so blatantly refusing to aid his daughters just because his son and his pride are involved.

Joshua nods solemnly and takes them to the attic without another word.

 _xxxx_


	9. Chapter 9

When Joshua shuts the attic door behind him, Bonnie is left standing alone with Kai in a dusty room filled with boxes.

The two witches do some brief searching up until Bonnie comes across the box labeled 'grimoires' in scribbled black marker. She rips it open hastily, finding that it's packed to the top with old leather bound journals.

Kai kicks a stray box with the tip of his shoe, scowling. "Is there a reason why this place still looks like the inside of Mary Poppins's bag? You'd think losing all of your kids to witchcraft would make a guy clean the place out."

"Or keep everything," Bonnie says, thinking about the sentimental value a lot of the things in the house might have. Joshua was an asshole, but she was sure some part of him had loved his family.

Just like her parents.

Bonnie had spent countless years growing up wondering if her mother had held onto anything to remember her by. Coming to the realization that Abby had been just fine and raising a son of her own was something she still struggled to overcome.

She tries to imagine her parents hating her so much they'd lock her away in a magical prison. She doesn't meet Kai's eyes when he wanders over to her side.

"So, is this the witchy-woo jackpot or what?" he asks, bending down to pluck one of the grimoires out of the box.

"Maybe," Bonnie says quietly, taking some of the journals out herself. "Just get to looking so we can hurry and get out of this place." The longer they stay, the tenser the air between Kai and Joshua seems to become. Even through the sturdy walls of the old house, Bonnie can imagine she senses Joshua's magic pulsing like a ticking time bomb. She wonders if he can even do anything to Kai to begin with now that he's the coven leader.

The two witches sit on the floor eventually, poring over the old tomes and flipping through pages to find any mention of the Sagittarian coven.

"This is boring," Kai announces finally. "I'm _bored_. It's like required high school reading, except at least then you could draw penises in the margins to pass the time."

Bonnie feels a surge of annoyance— Kai had been rustling around and occasionally whistling for the past half hour, making it increasingly hard for her to concentrate. For him to complain about boredom when she's been trying so desperately to find anything to fix the ungodly mark on her arm is grating, to say the least.

"Look, either make yourself useful or take a walk. I need to find grimoire entries on this coven from Hell before this mark kills me or worse." Bonnie has had plenty of experiences with death and doesn't intend on tangling with it again anytime soon.

Kai sighs, leaning back against the wall with the book on his knees. "Alright, alright. I'll shut up, okay? Just don't be surprised if we're looking until the sun goes down, because grimoires from the Parker family are the equivalent of a king-sized dumpster fire. These people don't organize anything." He turns a page, grinning. "You should've seen my mom when she realized Jo and I needed our social security cards to get driver's licenses. Thought she might off herself right there, but..." His grin falters and he suddenly becomes slightly more serious. Bonnie just barely notices him swallow. "Guess she decided to wait and do that when I was out of high school."

This piece of news runs over Bonnie like cold ice water. She remembered the newspaper in 1994 stating the Parker family had lost their mother two years prior to the murders, but she'd never known how.

"Couldn't handle it all, I guess— how much of an asshole my dad is paired with the fact she knew she'd have to lose her precious Liv and Luke because I was the family fuck-up." He skims the pages, not meeting her gaze. The sunlight streaming in through the window illuminates a golden halo on the edges of his dark-haired head.

"Wonder if she cared about Jo, too," he muses. "What might have happened to her if I snapped and we had to merge."

Bonnie is just looking at him, trying to gather her thoughts. "I'm sorry," she says weakly, and means it. "I can't imagine." She knew with Abby she'd at least had the hope that her mom might someday return, even if it was far-removed.

"It's in the past," he says dismissively. She can practically see his walls going back up. Pre-Merge Kai might not have said any of this to her, she realizes. He seems more human and she's not sure what to do with that information.

"Bingo," Kai says suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts. "Found the entry— you're welcome." He flings the old journal into her lap and she flinches, dropping the one she's holding.

The page is yellow with age and the cursive handwriting scribbled across it is hardly legible. _'The Sagittarian Coven uses ancient rune magic to perform most spells,'_ reads the first bullet point. Bonnie leans in, trying to focus, and can feel Kai's breath on her neck as he hovers over her to read the grimoire. _'The coven is known for its reverence to the Hunt, a sacrificial month once every half year that restores the strength of their magic and their connection with nature. One witch is selected by the coven leader to perform this task, which entails sacrificing two human lives each week up until the last, which requires two witch lives.'_

"That seems like an awful lot, doesn't it?" Kai asks, snatching the journal from her lap to take a closer look. "You'd think they'd at least put you on some training wheels— sacrifice a bunny or something for the first week or so. Try-hards." He flips to the next page, which includes multitudes of runes and their meanings.

Bonnie grabs hold of part of the journal, their fingers touching. "It's that one," she says, pointing to the sun-like symbol at the bottom of the page. The rune means _'to connect and meld together'_. "It is a binding spell," she says, throat constricting. "They're trying to keep me from coming after them." The mere idea of a witch being powerful enough to burn a linking rune into her skin while also escaping from the scene of a crime is worrisome.

"Alright, let's just take a deep breath," Kai says, holding up both hands. "A linking spell is still a measly linking spell, tacky tattoo or not." He peers at the now exposed mark on Bonnie's forearm. "Eugh. And that thing sure is tacky, isn't it? It's like one of those crappy fake tattoos you get on those gum wrappers from the 90s except gorier."

Bonnie gives him a hard look in response.

"Anyway," he continues, "there's gotta be something in here that can get rid of it. Let's just take the grimoire and get out before I do something ungodly to Daddy Dearest, okay?"

"Happily," Bonnie concedes, tucking the journal under her arm. "If I have to sit through another minute of your Lifetime-movie family drama I'm going to just kill myself to take out that other witch right now." It's a joke, of course. The idea of taking her life has an all new meaning after having already been dead multiple times.

"Alright, well how Lifetime can this get?" Kai asks inquisitively as they walk towards the attic door. "If the recently recovered sociopath of a son snapped one more time to kill his abusive dad, would that be _too_ much or just enough?"

"Kai, don't," Bonnie says in exasperation. "Just don't, okay? If you think batting your eyelashes at me a few times is enough for this to all become a big joke, you're wrong."

"A few? What about, like, multitudes of times?" he asks as they take the ladder down from the attic.

Bonnie is about to respond until she sees Joshua standing at the mouth of the hallway, arms crossed. She swallows. "We found what we're looking for. We'll be on our way now."

Joshua seems to ignore her, instead focusing his gaze on Kai. "Never come here again. Do you understand me? The coven will have a new leader all in due time, but until then your rule is not welcome here. _You_ are not welcome here."

Kai stiffens next to Bonnie, completely rigid. He finally speaks. "That's a little harsh, Pops. Did anyone ever tell you not to speak to your coven leader that way? Heard they cut peoples' tongues out for that back in the olden days." When Bonnie spares a glance at him, she sees his eyes are dark and menacing again, a lot like they were Pre-Merge.

"Get out," Joshua says again, and the words are laced with venom.

"Kai," Bonnie says loudly, trying to break through his haze. "Kai, let's _go_." She wonders why she's asking him to come with her. Why not leave the Parkers here to their fate? She remembers the warm wetness of his mouth on hers and her thoughts fall quiet.

He looks at her finally, meeting her gaze. The tenseness in his figure dissipates and he nods, swallowing.

He follows her when she moves past Joshua to leave the Parker house.

 _xxxx_

Bonnie doesn't know why, but she finally caves to Kai's incessant begging to visit Portland's famous donut shop and agrees to head there for dinner. It's something old Bonnie might have never agreed to, but new Bonnie has just driven cross-country with a recovering sociopath and has dark circles under her eyes. Eating donuts for dinner is the last thing on her list of concerns but she can somehow still imagine Caroline's disapproving look in her head.

Voodoo Doughnut is unsettlingly colorful, the interior a giant mixture of pastel pinks and yellows. The line is pretty long too, and it becomes immediately apparent to her that the place is a big tourist attraction. Custom t-shirts decorate the walls, and Kai points to one that says _'The magic is in the hole'_. "Get it?" he grins. "The hole? S'good."

Bonnie rolls her eyes, her lips twitching up at the corner. "Stop being a weirdo for like two seconds and just pick a donut," she says, noticing the guy at the cash register giving them an impatient glance.

"Um, _Bonster_ , I'm working on it," Kai says, fiddling with a bracelet on his wrist as he prowls in front of the display case. "Beautiful things come with time." He looks like he's taking this more seriously than he should.

He winds up picking about six different donuts and Bonnie is in a state of pure amazement. When it's her turn, she orders a coffee and a single chocolate donut with a pentagram iced on the top. She's sure it's a reference to the name of the store but finds it ironic anyways.

"So, I know this is a weird concept," Kai is saying around a partially full mouth after they had found seats, "but I've had these ridiculous cravings ever since the first time I siphoned and I think maybe there's something to be said about that? Not that Siphoning _made_ me like food or anything. Food is great. This half-dozen box of Voodoo Doughnut will never disappoint me like a coven can." He's already on his second donut and Bonnie figures he'll be done within the next seven minutes, give or take.

"So that's what you've been doing? Eating your pain away?" she asks, taking a sip out of her to-go cup. The coffee is mostly bitter with just a splash of sweet creamer and it jolts her senses.

He shrugs, taking another bite. "What would you be doing if your family put you through systematic child abuse your entire life and then locked you up in a magic cell for eighteen years? Solitaire gets old after awhile."

"You know if you die of calorie intake now, you'll take out your entire coven right?" Bonnie points out, and isn't sure if she's trying to joke with him or not. Her tone is light-hearted, but part of her doesn't put it past Kai to randomly commit suicide as an easy way to take out the Gemini Coven.

He makes an indistinguishable sound and smiles at her. "Funny. Didn't realize you did stand-up, Bonster. You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt Jo, now. Twinsies, remember? I even had Darren and Eliza send her that heartfelt letter-"

"Damon and Elena," Bonnie corrects instantly, even though she knows he's being asinine.

"Whatever. And anyways, what would I have to gain out of killing my entire coven? I could easily gut dear old pops and just be done with it. No sweat off _my_ back." Bonnie watches him approach his last donut and feels like she could be sick at the prospect of consuming that much pure sugar.

"Do that and I'll kill you," Bonnie replies simply. "We had a deal that this was your second chance, and if you break it you're getting stabbed for real. End of story." She starts to stand up, coffee in hand.

"Wait, Bonnie," he says hastily, scrambling to stand and follow after her. "I-I wanted to ask you something." She turns to face him and he's nervously shoving his hands in his pockets and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Yes?" she asks, giving him a scrutinizing look. It's as if he's a five-year-old about to ask if he can use the merry-go-round.

"Did you maybe, uh.. want to go out on the town with me?" She starts to open her mouth but he rushes on. "Wait- before you say no, hear me out. I haven't actually _been_ to Portland outside of the Prison World in, like, your entire lifetime. And it was my home once. Just let me show you a place or two downtown. Pleeease, Bonster. It'll be fun."

Bonnie sucks in a breath and closes her eyes. "If I do this, will you promise we'll stop as little as possible on the way back to Mystic Falls? Peoples' _lives_ are on the line. If that means skipping a lunch or two, we need to get back there as soon as we can."

Kai looks visibly displeased at the prospect of having to skip any meal. After some consideration, he sighs. "Fiiine. Do you always threaten to starve people who ask you on dates?"

The two of them are starting to head out of the donut shop. "Only people who deserve it," Bonnie says, bumping his arm.

" _Ouch_ ," he laments as they push out the front door. Bonnie wonders where the night will lead them.

 _xxxx_

As it turns out, the night leads them to a series of bars in downtown Portland. Bonnie can't remember the last time she's had a few drinks just for the fun of being drunk or really done anything fun in general. Mystic Falls had become more of a chore or a burden than a place to live, and that was exceedingly apparent just by looking at how many times she had died so far. She told herself she was doing this for her, not necessarily the pleasure of being around Kai Parker-if it was even a pleasure at all.

For just one night, she allows herself to stop agnonizing over where she stands with Kai and start having fun. By almost midnight, they wind up in a venue called _Jones Retro Dance Club_. It has fluorescent, flashing colors, strobe lights and '90s decor everywhere. The irony is not lost on either of them.

She's sipping on a tequila drink called the _'Margarita Jones 9'_ when Kai falls onto the bartop next to her.

"Unbelievable," he says, huffing as if he's out of breath. "I just had a dance-off with this guy in overalls and I think he actually won." He slides a hand onto Bonnie's arm and leans forward, nearly whispering, " _Overalls_."

Bonnie shrugs off his touch, giving a shrug. "Maybe you're just not drunk enough. There's no way in hell you were stuck in a prison world with nothing to do for eighteen years and some _rando_ beat you in a dance-off. You're from the 90s, Kai." She leans towards him, giving his arm a pat.

"Not drunk enough?" he muses. "Did you know, contrary to popular belief, there are actually like three of you right now? There are just three Bonnie Bennetts talking to me at the same time." He pretends to count all of the different versions of her in the air and she cracks a small smile.

"Dance with me," he slurs, closing the distance between them further. Bonnie feels his face next to hers and looks up to meet his gaze. His eyes are flitting down towards her lips and he looks for all in the world like he's reliving their time in the hotel room.

"As long as you don't dance badly enough to lose another dance-off," she says, leaning towards him just a fraction. It almost feels as if the two witches are matching puzzle pieces begging to fit together once more. She wants him, even if she knows she shouldn't. The idea of clawing her fingers into the skin of his back again makes an excited chill run down her spine.

"If you're worried," he begins, lifting a hand to touch the back of her neck, "that I won't be able to show you a good time, I assure you that's a non-issue." His fingers brush through her hair and she shudders. " _Bonnie_." He says her name like he's exploring the sound of it.

"Dunno what you're waiting around for, then," she says, raising her eyebrows. "Lead the way."

The Parker witch takes her away from the bar area and over to the dance floor where the music is much louder. They pick a corner off to the side, and Bonnie numbly wonders if it's because it would make for a good place to slink off to so they could make out.

Kai, as it turns out, is a decent dancer. He spins and twirls her, and the contact of skin on skin is enough to have Bonnie yearning again. "Have you done this before?" she asks, slightly breathless. "This whole 'get-wasted-and-dance-at-a-club' thing?" She realizes it might be a stupid question considering Kai was twenty-two when put in the Prison World, but she just can't picture him in normal settings outside of the Parker house.

"Bonnie, I lived in the 90s," he says, smirking. "Not under a boulder the size of Montana." He yanks her closer then, their chests touching. "I partied- sometimes. Mostly I just played a lot of video games, listened to grunge music and looked at weird porn, but I left the house occasionally. Dear old Dad hated not keeping tabs on me, so I only did it more."

"Meet any girls that way?" Bonnie asks, almost offhandedly. She can't picture Kai Parker with a date, much less a normal girlfriend.

"Why?" he asks slowly, grinning. His eyes cut back and forth. " _Ohhh_ , wait- are you jealous?"

"Mmm," Bonnie responds, pursing her lips. "Keep flattering yourself, sunshine."

"Oh, Bonnie," he muses. "You shouldn't have. But, no, I didn't meet any. Not any like you, anyways. I've never met anyone like you." He purrs the last few words in her right ear and Bonnie can feel the heat of his body on hers.

Her thoughts are foggy and all she knows is that she wants his warmth to swallow hers whole. In an unexpected movement, she turns, shoving him up against the wall behind them. Placing a hand on his chest, she pushes it up his shirt and leans in.

It feels like fire and electricity when their lips touch again. He lets out a soft moan and she caresses his lips with hers, lightly running the tip of her tongue against his. Their bodies are touching, pressed together as if they're trying to meld into one. She wants to tear his clothes off and see the beautiful light in his eyes as he climaxes-

"Closet," he says, breaking away from her lips. She hardly registers what he's saying at first, but when she does excitement rushes through her. "Now," he continues, and she feels herself nodding.

A closet, as it turns out, isn't hard for them to find, and when they slam the door behind them they're quickly ripping each other's clothes off. Bonnie thinks about magicking the door locked but doesn't. The thrill of being caught in the act fucking Kai is almost some kind of dirty fantasy for her.

He has her against the wall, kissing her so desperately she feels like her heart is going to hammer from her chest. She's in her underwear now, and Kai wastes no time dipping his fingers between her legs to rub the moistness of her panties. She stifles a moan against his lips, feeling her body tremble at his touch.

"You like that, Bon?" he asks, his voice husky. "Bet you're all about getting fucked in a supply closet, right? Dirty girl." She stumbles back from his grasp, sitting back on a shelf so she can spread her legs to give him more access. His fingers push her panties to the side, slipping into her folds. She audibly groans as they slide into her wetness.

He's finger-fucking her again, dropping his lips to her neck to suck and kiss her skin. She feels heat and pleasure envelope her in a warm blanket. The sensation of his hand between her legs and his fingers sliding in and out of her make her nerves sing.

Kai uses his free hand to undo her bra, slipping it off of her before continuing to suck at her neck. He pulls out of her, using his fingertips to rub circles into her clit. She sighs into him, leaning against the wall as tremors of pleasure shake her.

"S'that good, Bonnie?" he rasps against her ear. Removing his fingers from her clit, he places them in his mouth, sucking her wetness from them. "You want more?"

She feels herself nodding vigorously, widening her legs for him. His fingers, now wet with saliva, slip back between her legs and mix with her juices to stimulate her clit. She gasps, red-hot fire feeling as if it's coursing through her.

He works her clit for longer than she could keep track of, lowering his head to suck and kiss her breasts. She climaxes a few times but is still shuddering with desire when he finally yanks her off of the shelf. Before she knows it she's on her knees, taking his length into her mouth.

"Bonnie, are you slobbering?" Kai taunts, pushing further in. "All you have to do is ask for more."

She swirls her tongue over the head, bobbing it in and out of her mouth. The wetness between her legs is seeping onto her thighs.

Kai's eyes flutter shut as she sucks and she wonders if he's close to finishing. Releasing him from her mouth, she meets his gaze with a steely one of her own. "Fuck me," she demands, almost unable to recognize the sound of her own voice.

"Aww, see? That wasn't so hard," he says huskily, quickly moving to grab hold of her hips. He forces her head down and she splays her legs eagerly, her genitals throbbing. She has her butt slightly in the air and she's on all fours.

When Kai enters her again she lets out a hitched breath. He's quickly pounding into her, his fingers digging into the skin on her hips. Bonnie lets out a small cry, the feeling of him inside of her taking her to the edge again.

"I killed you once," she manages to grunt out, and isn't sure why she says it. Maybe because it excites her.

"It was sexy," he breathes, moving his hands to her behind as he fucks in and out of her. "You've always been a bad girl."

Bonnie clenches her fingers, arching her back as he slams into her. Everything feels clouded as pleasure overtakes her and she climaxes again, a tingling fire unfurling throughout her body.

Kai's orgasm is shortly after, but this time when he pulls out his cum ends up on both her back and the concrete floor of the supply closet. Bonnie sits up, taking a shuddering breath. She's done it again, she realizes. _She's had sex with Kai Parker for the second time._ She wonders distantly if she'll be able to stop.


	10. Chapter 10

"Bonnie, wake _up_ ," Caroline fusses, shaking the Bennett witch out of her sleep.

Bonnie blinks, eyes adjusting to the sunlight filtering in through the dorm windows. Caroline had ripped her comforter off from over her head and the glaring light was harsh, to say the least.

Bonnie and Kai had arrived home from the road trip late last night and the Bennett witch had passed out in her bed with the Parker grimoire tucked safely under her pillow.

"Caroline, seriously?" Bonnie groans, sitting up in bed. "I just got back from a cross-country road trip with a sociopath, in case you've forgotten. A little extra sleep might've been nice." The witch throws her pillow at her best friend, who catches it with her vampire reflexes and tosses it back on the bed.

"Nuh-uh-uh," she chastises. " _You_ don't get a nap, Bonnie Bennett. Jo and Alaric's wedding is today and Hell will _literally_ freeze over before I let this go south. Get up— I need to see what you're wearing and make sure it isn't a total disaster."

"Oh," Bonnie says, taking a deep breath. "Right. Jo and Alaric. Listen, I'm sorry I forgot, it's just—"

"You've been cross-country with a little witch psychopath in order to stop a coven of witches from sacrificing all of Mystic Falls," Caroline finishes for her. "Got it. I need your help with some of the arrangements— Elena called and told me Jo's wedding planner bailed and there's only so much I can get done while simultaneously avoiding Stefan."

"You're avoiding Stefan?" Bonnie asks instantly, and when she sees the look on Caroline's face she makes a small ' _o_ ' with her mouth. "Got it. On the ' _what-are-we_ ' outs." She can't say she's surprised by this news— she's heard Damon mention Stefan's fixation on Caroline as of recent, and you'd have to be lacking a pair of eyes to miss what was clearly going on between the two of them. "Well, just let me know what I can do and I'll try to steer clear of the impending Caroline-Stefan blast radius," Bonnie continues, standing from the bed.

"Excellent," Caroline agrees, and not for the first time, moves to start digging through Bonnie's closet on her side of the room. "I know I said I'd let you pick your outfit out, but as your friend, I'm sincerely telling you this is too big of a decision for you."

"Gee," Bonnie says, heading towards the bathroom to start her daily routine. "Thanks, Care. I appreciate your confidence in my ability to, I don't know, _dress_ myself."

"Listen, don't take it personally, okay? You have a certain, um, Bonnie Bennett style that just might not...," she pauses, and Bonnie raises an eyebrow. ".. _work out_ with what I have planned here." Caroline smiles in her direction, pulling a couple of pieces of clothing from the closet.

The witch shuts the bathroom door on her best friend, rolling her eyes. It's going to be a long morning.

 _xxxx_

Bonnie decides on a black corset with a fitted jacket for wedding preparations but is instructed by a bossy Caroline to bring a light violet dress in case Jo feels she and Elena should match for the ceremony. On the way, she stops to get her hair touched up for the wedding in an attempt to look at least somewhat put together despite the circumstances. She arrives at the barn venue around eleven o'clock with newly cropped short hair and freshly plucked eyebrows.

Jo keeps the girls busy for most of the day, and the ceremony that night is a well-earned success. Joshua and the other Gemini Coven members even attend the wedding, something that Jo seems to have had mixed feelings about. Bonnie doesn't mention to her what occurred with Joshua at the Parker house.

There's no sign of Kai, and Bonnie is simultaneously relieved and also curious as to why he didn't feel the need to stick his nose in Jo's business. She wonders, however, if this wasn't just a trait of Pre-Merge Kai that dissipated once he stopped requiring Jo to become the coven leader and have persistent magic.

Bonnie spends the following days poring over the grimoire full of the Sagittarian Coven's magic and doesn't hear from or see Kai at all.

It leaves her with an uncharacteristic amount of time to sit with her thoughts as she begins to conjure up a Sagittarian ritual to undo the linking spell. She spends nights laying awake sometimes, feeling an impending sense of guilt on her chest that she had slept with Kai not once but twice.

He had still terrorized her, even if she's starting to realize she might have done the same to him. What does it say about her that she's beginning to revel in the darker side of herself and give in to temptations?

 _It means you're not going to be Bonnie the Good Mystic Falls Witch anymore. Or a doormat_ , she thinks, recalling all of the times she's died. Recalling the past few years of her life as a witch. _You're going to have to own up to what you've become. Why you're not with Jeremy anymore— why you suppressed your desires for a guy who tried to actually kill you._

The thoughts plague her, and she finds it harder and harder to shut them out.

 _xxxx_

After a week of study, Bonnie finally gets up on the following Saturday morning and drives to the Salvatore Boarding House. She's figured out a spell she thinks might unlink her from the witch but needs an extra pair of hands to help with the setup.

 _And you want to see Kai._ The thought seeps somewhere in the back of her mind like some kind of vat of poison that had turned over.

When she raps her fist on the front door, it's Stefan who answers.

"Bonnie," he greets, gaze flicking from her face to the Parker grimoire she has tucked under one arm. He looks like he's in an uncharacteristically good mood, with a brighter glow than usual and ruffled brunette hair. "Come in. Was just about to call you."

"You were?" Bonnie asks, not bothering to hide the confusion tinging her voice. Stefan and Damon both had been preoccupied with Lily Salvatore and her Ripper-binge, so the idea of either of them checking in on the witch coven debacle out of the goodness of their own hearts was a little surprising to her.

"I mean, yeah," Stefan says, leading her into the den. The curtains are pulled back on the windows, washing natural light across each nook and cranny of the room. "What, you think I'm just gonna let my girlfriend's college get taken over by a bunch of witch-cultist freaks?"

The way he says it is light-hearted, but Bonnie feels her eyebrows shoot up at the word 'girlfriend'. "Ah," she says, smiling sweetly. "Was starting to wonder why you looked a little less doom and gloom."

"Stefan, did you want any creamer in your coffee, or—"

Bonnie turns, hearing the familiar chipper voice of Caroline in early-bird mode. She's standing at the entrance to the corridor, clad in a fluffy purple bathrobe with her hair still up in a bun.

"Oh," Caroline says meekly, giving a sheepish smile. "Hey, Bonnie— want any coffee, or?"

"Hi," Bonnie musters, trying to bite down on her smile. "Coffee would be great. Black with just a _tiiiny_ splash of creamer. Thanks."

Stefan clears his throat, also seemingly trying to suppress the corners of his lips twitching up. "Sorry. I know this must be weird, what with Elena—"

"Stefan," Bonnie interrupts, shaking her head. "No. You and Caroline are great, and we love you both. We're _happy_ for you— Elena too."

"Did someone say coffee?" Kai's amused drawl reaches her ears, and she turns to see him padding into the room. He's wearing a full set of clothes this time, with a t-shirt and hoodie combo. Bonnie squints, realizing with some surprise that it's a Mystic Falls High shirt. "I honestly couldn't tell if it was Caroline or the sound of a broken alarm clock on repeat."

"Sorry, were you saying something?" Bonnie counters coolly. "I couldn't hear it over the important witch business we were just about to discuss." She knows she's giving him her infamous icy look and can't find it within herself to care. Kai has a mischievously amused expression on his face and it only irks her more.

"If you guys are done with this whole cute ' _I-hate-you, you-hate-me_ ' thing can we get along with the actual reason why you're here?" Stefan directs at the Bennett witch, raising his eyebrows. "Not that I don't love having you over, Bonnie."

"Oh, Steven, you should've _seen_ the stuff in that grimoire," Kai muses, sauntering over to plop down on one of the leather couches. He throws his feet up on the coffee table, converse scuffing the polished wood. " _This_ is where it gets interesting. Ole Bonster is gonna have to do something ungodly." He grins. "Wear a top hat and dance the Macarena in a giant pool of baby blood."

Bonnie shoots him a disgusted look, her lip curling. "You're gross." She normally reserves this kind of cold, cut and dry tone for Damon, but realizes she's been utilizing it on Kai more and more. Looking at Stefan, she amends firmly, "There's no baby blood involved— don't listen to him. There is, uh..," she hesitates for a moment, "..animal blood, though."

"What?" Stefan asks, deadpan. She has a feeling if he'd been taking a drink of anything he might've spit it out.

" _Nice_ ," Kai enthuses, knocking his feet together on the coffee table. "You gonna go to the pet store and wring a baby bunny out like a dishrag, or what?" He pauses, mock-horror passing over his features. "Oh, no, wait- that's you, isn't it Stefon? _You're_ the bunny-wrangler." The witch makes a ' _tsk_ 'ing noise. "You know that's one of the first signs of being a sociopath, right? What would Caroline say? Or does she eat bunnies too?"

"I don't eat _bunnies_ , but I will eat you if you don't get your feet off that coffee table and stop running your insufferable little mouth," Caroline counters venomously as she swoops in, handing two coffee cups to Stefan and Bonnie respectively. The blond is now dressed in jeans and a floral top, and Bonnie wonders if vampire speed was involved in how quickly she changed out of the bathrobe.

"Thanks, Care." Bonnie gives her a small smile, taking a sip out of the mug. Caroline's cooking may be god awful, but she definitely knows how to make a cup of coffee. The tangy flavor of the blend helps coax her awake.

"Anyways," Stefan says pointedly, glancing in Kai's direction. "Can we not talk about my post-Oprah vampire diet for a second and get back on topic?"

"Mmm, yeah," Bonnie agrees with a hint of sarcasm, "Sounds like a good plan." She opens the Parker grimoire, dropping it on the table next to Kai's feet. "I've come up with a way to unlink myself. It looks like the Sagittarian Coven performs all normal spells with added creepy flourishes, so countering this with a regular unlinking spell won't work. I'm going to need to play by their game. This particular spell will require me to carve a rune into an animal to transfer the link onto them instead. Usually, this would instantly kill them and make them a good old fashioned animal sacrifice- the power of the raw magic would be too much for their bodies to handle. _But_ ," She moves her gaze to Kai. "With a Siphoner, I can probably prevent that."

"Oh, plot twist," the Parker witch declares, smirking. "Guess I'm the bunny prophet now, huh? I wonder if they'll start lining up at my door begging me to save them from mean ole Steven Salvatore." He tilts his head, meeting Bonnie's gaze. "When are we doing this?"

"Now," Bonnie says without hesitation. "I know it's _temptin_ _g_ for you to laze around and be the menace to society you so enjoy, but I'm going to need you to get up and come with me. I want this stupid mark off my arm so I can concentrate on whatever the next step is."

"Ouch," Kai remarks, but stands from his spot on the couch. "You having some regrets about what went down between us on that trip? You really should try therapy, Bonster. It clears the mind." His lips twitch up at one corner. "I mean, not that I would know- my dad wasn't so big on the whole 'get your deranged son help' scene."

Bonnie feels her face flush and fresh horror washes over her at his words. She can see Caroline's mouth drop open out of the corner of her eye, and not a second later Stefan's coffee mug crashes to the floor and shatters.

"Okay, wow-" he exclaims, looking between both witches in shock. Bonnie can hear the roaring in her ears and is vaguely aware of her nails digging into her own palms.

Caroline wooshes over to Stefan in a blur. "Are you okay?" she asks, checking him over. "I'll get a broom and a mop." Shooting a look of disapproval in Bonnie's direction, she shakes her head and heads towards the kitchen. The witch hears her mutter something under her breath with the words ' _honestly_ ' and ' _can't believe_ '.

"Car. Now," Bonnie manages, and is trying desperately to calm her torrents of anger at his flippancy.

Kai follows after her as she starts to head outside, whistling.

 _xxxx_

" _Really_?" she demands, slamming the door as she takes residence in the driver's seat. Kai looks smug on the passenger's side. "Tell all of my friends- who are _good people_ by the way- that you and I had a momentary lapse of judgement? Could you not just keep something to yourself? Just for, like, _once_?"

"A momentary lapse of judgement? That hurts my feelings, Bon." She can't tell if he's being genuine or asinine. "And, no, I couldn't keep it to myself. It's _funny_. You're having a little seizure trying to explain to your _vampire_ friends that you slept with a guy who killed some people once. They're _vampires_ , Bonnie. We're _witches_. Nothing about any of this is normal. Damon killed a pregant lady, for crying out loud, but I guess it's all cool that Elena is shacking up with him, right?" He starts to raise his voice at the end, but it's less in an angry tone and more in exasperation. Bonnie is digging her fingers into the steering wheel.

His words barrel into her, causing her levels of discomfort she can't entirely explain _. Damon killed a pregant lady, for crying out loud._ She thinks about the pain and regret in Kai's eyes ever since the Merge- the kind of look he has in them only during quiet moments. The kind of look he'd had when he'd first apologized. Something Damon had never even really done- at least, not like that. She starts to wonder if maybe she's all wrong.

Gritting her teeth, she pushes the thought aside. It still wasn't his place to bring any of it up. "It doesn't _matter_ ," she says, her voice steely. "You don't get to do that- tell my friends what's going on between us before I've even-" she pauses, unsure of how she wants to continue.

"Before you've what?" Kai asks, blue-gray eyes cold. "Accepted the fact you're attracted to me? News flash, Bonnie, everyone can see it except for you. The second you laid a hand on me it was painfully obvious."

"Just shut up, okay?" she snaps, gritting her teeth. He's right. _God, he's right._

The two don't talk again as Bonnie drives them into town. It's a tense silence and it gives her more time to stew over their conversation than she would've liked.

 _xxxx_

"Is this good? You think you'll be able to cut little Jerry open with that?" Kai asks after passing his pocket knife over to Bonnie.

The two have laid out their tools on the floor of Bonnie's dorm, mostly out of a lack of a better place to perform the spell. Going back to Stefan's after the bombshell that was dropped wasn't something she felt like doing.

Jerry, as it turns out, is a small mouse the local pet store had been selling for the purpose of feeding pet snakes. Feeling guilty about the idea of buying a small animal for the end goal of sacrificial magic, Bonnie had made sure Kai could perform the siphoning spell on a creature that small before they'd checked out.

He's a bit larger than the typical mouse, with white fur and a pink nose. He squeaks, running around in his cage as the two witches set up for the spell. His cuteness feels strangely damning.

"A _Tom and Jerry_ reference as we're about to slice open an adorable, innocent animal for some magic. Classy," Bonnie retorts, turning the pocket knife over in her hands.

Kai shrugs, leaning over to pop the mouse's cage open. Bonnie is about to protest until he snatches him up securely in his hand. "Well, let's get this show on the road."

Taking a deep breath, the Bennett witch nods. Accepting the squealing mouse in her hands, she readies the knife and begins to chant.

It's an unfamiliar chant, and one she's reading off of the pages of the old grimoire in front of her. Referencing the shape of the connection rune on the old page, she slowly presses the tip of the knife down onto the mouse's back and carves. Its squeals make her stomach queasy, but she swallows and continues the spell nonetheless. The familiar sensation of magic fills her to her brim, pouring out of her and into the small animal in her grip.

Kai snakes a hand out, touching the mouse. Closing his eyes, the tips of his fingers glow a soft orange-red as he siphons the magic Bonnie is funneling to the rodent.

A sudden and searing pain rushes over the mark on her forearm and she lets out a cry.

"Bonnie?" Kai asks, his voice an octave above normal. "Bonnie, are you okay?"

She nods, gritting her teeth. And then the spell is over.

Fumbling to give the mouse to Kai, she drops the knife and yanks the sleeve of her shirt up. Her skin is smooth and back to normal where the mark used to be. "Thank god," she breathes, rubbing the area.

Kai drops the mouse into the cage, closing the door. "What did I tell you? I can siphon a mouse like you wouldn't believe."

Bonnie almost doesn't hear him through her relief. _She's free. Free from the linking spell from Hell._


	11. Chapter 11

Kai dreams about being inside of her. He dreams about her fingers digging into his flesh and raking open wounds across his back. He even dreams about her hands around his neck, choking him with that self-righteous fire burning in her beautiful green eyes.

It gets him hard. Thinking about Bonnie coming in the night to teach him a lesson- make him pay for all of his sins. He'd thought she was a goddess the moment he'd seen her, and when she'd killed him it was like the vengeance of Hera herself. Part of him hated her for it, too; at least he had. Now he was consumed by an unfamiliar desire to be by her and spend time with her and make sure she was okay.

He knew he had to keep helping her, even if their road trip was over- keep being her companion. Over the course of the next couple days, he finds himself continuing to ponder if this is what it's like to love.

 _xxxx_

"Steven, are you gonna compel her or are we gonna be here all day? Because, no offense, but I'd rather be filling out a crossword. Ooh, _or_ drinking a margarita at the bar next door," Kai is rambling, picking up a random statue of a bronze horse that's on the center of the Dean's desk. "Yeesh. This is tackier than the entrance hall, and there was _confetti_ on that wallpaper."

"Compel me? What in God's name does that mean?" the Dean asks, looking taken aback. She's a middle-aged woman with blond hair pulled in a tight updo and reading glasses perched on her head. "I thought you two were here to talk about the murders on campus a week ago."

"No, it _is_ about that," Stefan says conversationally, leaning forward to place both hands on her desk. "It's just that we need your help." Kai can hear the change in his voice as he slathers on the compulsion. "You're going to write Malachai Parker into Whitemore College. He's going to take the dorm closest to the girls' and room _by himself_. I know it's the middle of the semester, but we need you to make an exception just this once."

"I'll make an exception," she agrees, her eyes suddenly glazed over. She moves to her computer, her fingers robotically hitting the keys as if she's about to put in some registration.

Kai drops the horse statue and dusts his hands off. "Welp, there's that. Thanks for the help, Steven, but I have a class to get to now." He claps the Salvatore on the back as he passes, making a beeline for the exit. "See you when we catch the pyscho-murder witch." He's humming to himself as he retreats down the corridor, and his disposition is particularly sunny— sunnier than usual.

 _xxxx_

"Bonnie, slow down," Caroline chastises, grabbing her friend by both forearms. "You're not making any sense."

The three girls are seated just outside of a cafe on the edge of campus. Elena and Caroline had agreed to come and finally be debriefed on everything Bonnie had learned from her trip to the Parkers'.

"I can't, Caroline," Bonnie says irritably, gripping the edge of the table. "Peoples' _lives_ are on the line. Look, if there aren't any victims yet it means this mystery witch is about to strike again. The grimoire said the 'Hunt' requires two human lives per week up until the last one, where they apparently need two witch lives instead." She stirs her coffee absently, clanking the spoon in the mug. The idea of another couple of murders happening right under her nose makes her too nauseous to drink or eat any more.

"Look, I get it," Elena offers, leaning forward to squeeze her friend's hand. "It's stressful, but Bonnie— this isn't _your_ fault. You're doing everything you can and more. We're going to catch them, okay?"

Bonnie exhales slowly. Elena always has a way of calming her nerves, and she smiles tentatively in the other girl's direction. "Thanks, guys. I guess I'm just a little high strung right now." She realizes too quickly that it's the wrong thing to say when Caroline tenses up beside her.

"Could that have anything to do with the fact you _slept_ with a serial killer?" the blond explodes, and Bonnie doesn't have to be looking at Elena to imagine her eyebrows shooting up through her hairline. "Look, I know I've made some mistakes that start with the letter 'K', but that doesn't give you two a free pass to do the same, alright?"

" _Me_?" Elena asks in disbelief, pressing a hand to her chest. "What do _I_ have to do with this? And what serial kil—" It dawns on her before she finishes her sentence. "Kai," she says simply, setting her jaw. "You slept with Kai." Her doe-eyed gaze is no less judgy than Caroline's.

"Um, hello?" Caroline demands shrilly. "What other serial killers within a ten-mile radius have been making sex-eyes at her like that?"

"God, Caroline, stop," Bonnie snaps, feeling her patience wearing thin. "I know, okay? It's weird. I don't know what came over me either, but I've been dealing with a lot of different things since, I dunno, _rotting_ in a magical Prison World for ages and slowly losing what sanity I had left." She stands up, snatching her book bag from the patio to sling over one shoulder. "Now, if we're done swapping stories about our massive romantic failures, can we please just get out of here so I can make it to class on time?"

"Fine," Elena agrees, standing up. "No more talk about Kai. Less crazy supernatural guys, more college homework."

Bonnie agrees, but thoughts of Kai and her friends' disapproval still follow her incessantly as the three head back to Whitemore.

 _xxxx_

As it turns out, _Occult Studies_ with Alaric is a disaster.

She spots Kai almost immediately, slouched in what had previously been an open seat at the end of her usual row. He waves at her with the tips of his fingers, giving her the faintest of mischevious smiles as she passes.

This isn't so bad, really, even though Bonnie is greatly annoyed to see her last front of peace from the witch has now been compromised. What really kicks off the disaster of the class period is when Ric finally strides in. He's dressed in a button-down indigo-hued shirt with a coffee in one hand, and Bonnie ponders just how good of a morning he'd been having before his eyes finally landed on Kai.

Tensing up, his scruffy jaw sets and he walks almost mechanically to his desk. "Well," he declares to the relatively small lecture hall full of students. "I guess faculty forgot to mention to me we have a student transferring to this period," he continues, but the undertones of bitterness and hostility underneath are beginning to seep through.

Bonnie, who had taken her typical seat beside Elena, shoots her best friend a look and the other girl shakes her head in disbelief.

"No worries," Ric continues, dusting off his hands as he situates his papers on his desk. "You'll just have to play catch-up, won't you, Malachai?" He says Kai's name with the kind of casual venom only Alaric can muster.

Kai just returns his gaze evenly with a slightly amused glimmer in his eyes, running a tongue over the top row of his teeth before he speaks. "Y'know, Ric, I think I'll do that. You reckon Sissy can get me any free passes to an A in this class? Y'know, since you're canoodling her. Bumping buns, as it were-"

"Enough," Ric says as a murmur passes through the lecture hall. "Don't ever talk about my wife in my class again, or you and I are going to have a little chat, you hear me?" It's clear he's starting to feign a more casual approach since it's now become blatantly apparent to everyone in the vicinity that his relationship with Kai is more than professional.

 _Professional like nearly killing his wife_ , Bonnie thinks with a near shudder. She can't believe she's been in bed with the guy.

"Hey, no problem," Kai agrees, sitting back in his chair leisurely. He twirls a pencil between his fingers. "Whatever floats your boat, Ricky."

Elena snorts, and Bonnie shoots her a perplexed glare. _None of this is funny,_ she thinks, but when she glances back at Ric's face again he's so taken aback that the ghost of a smile starts to pull at her lips.

"Let's get back on track, shall we?" Alaric booms, ignoring Kai's previous jab. "Effects the occult has had on modern archaeology and anthropology."

The lecture starts, but Bonnie is embarrassed to notice Kai occasionally sneaking glances over at her. Throughout the class period, he switches between napping, playing with his pencil and gazing over at her and Elena longingly.

Finally, when the lecture comes to an end and Bonnie stands like she's about to leave, the other witch rushes to her side.

"No, wait— how are we gonna do this thing?" The question is incredibly vague.

Bonnie clutches her books to her chest, giving him an annoyed look. "You're gonna have to be a _little_ more specific than that, Kai. I'm a witch, not a mind reader."

"Do what?" Elena chimes in, also standing from her desk as she gathers her things. "Find the crazy-witch?"

"Bingo," Kai says, his features lighting up. "We're finding that witch before her witchy-woo finds the, uh, dead body of another victim. Right, Bonster?"

The nickname being used in front of Elena fills Bonnie with a kind of embarrassed dread she has a hard time justifying. She grits her teeth. "If you think I _invited_ you to this, you're wrong. Not once did I tell you to _join_ my school and follow me around, much less help me go on a witch hunt."

"Aaand that's my cue," Elena says, giving a sheepish wave before ducking between the two to file out with the other students.

"Nuh-uh-uh, _you_ said I'd get another chance. You said if I took you to Portland and back and helped your Mystic Falls cheerleader group, I'd get another shot at a do-over." The look in his eyes seems slightly masked, but almost hurt. Bonnie feels a stab of shame as she remembers her spur-of-the-moment promise.

She swallows uneasily, her green eyes flicking up to meet his gaze. "Fine," she says tightly. "You're right; I did say that. How do you want to do this? We can't just wait until they strike again and someone _dies_ —"

"The grimoire," Kai interrupts hurriedly. "If I remember correctly, I think the witch who's leading the Hunt is supposed to mark their next two victims with runes. If we can find some sort of spell to make those people stand out, we can, uh.. protect them from whatever happens."

"Do I even want to know why you two are still in my empty classroom talking about witchcraft?" Alaric asks, stacking papers on his desk. He's cocking an eyebrow at them, and she realizes the room _is_ in fact empty now.

"Sorry, Ric," Bonnie concedes, taking the hint. "Don't worry about it. It's something we're taking care of."

 _xxxx_

She'd meant in when she'd said it. But having Kai come over to her dorm to help her search in the grimoire put nervous butterflies in her stomach that she didn't really understand. Maybe it was just the idea of not finding the victims in time, she considers, but something in the back of her head nags at her that it's not the truth.

Kai is the truth, and so is she. Together, they're her truth; the truth she doesn't want to believe.

"Eugh, gross," Caroline is saying at the mention of Kai making his way over to their dorm. She throws her notebook down, standing from her bed with a sigh. "If you two are going to be witching it up in here, I'll just go spend some time with Stefan."

"Caroline," Bonnie groans, fixing her with pleading eyes. "Please, just... trust me on this, okay? I feel like the whole world is against me right now, and if you could just leave Kai alone long enough for me to figure this out I would appreciate it, alright?" She wonders if she's pleaing out of some twisted desire to defend Kai or because she genuinely can't handle her best friend's judgment fixated on her any longer.

"Okay, okay," Caroline sighs and approaches her just to give her shoulders a squeeze and pull her into a hug. "I don't know if I approve of Kai, but.. I do approve of your ability to mostly make your own decisions. I guess dying kind of gives you a few edges on the whole maturity thing." She says it light-hearted, like a joke, but the words still have some weight to them.

"Thanks, Care," Bonnie says, and she means it. The knock at the door startles them, and the blond releases her friend to swoosh over and open it.

"Just hurry and come in so I can leave," Caroline says sweetly, and Kai grins at her as he steps over the threshold.

"I know you guys missed me," he teases, straightening his jean jacket. His cheeks dimple, and Bonnie finds herself looking away from him hurriedly. She suddenly doesn't know what to do with her hands.

"Well," Caroline continues, striding over to pick up her purse from her bedside table before moving to make her exit. "I'll leave you two lovebirds to it." Bonnie lets out a hiss of annoyance as the door shuts behind her.

"Don't listen to her," Bonnie sighs, pulling the grimoire from her bedside table and gesturing for Kai to sit down next to her at the end of her bed. "She's.. processing."

"Processing _your_ sex life?" Kai questions innocently, and Bonnie smacks him in the shoulder. "Didn't she, like, bang the guy who killed Elena's aunt?" He snatches the grimoire from her with nimble fingers and begins sifting through it almost absently.

"Kai, seriously?" Bonnie says incredulously, but the petty side of her feels mild amusement. "His name was Klaus. You know, the Original vampire? Could kill your entire family?"

" _Not_ if you've already murdered them," he points out, and she moves to smack him again. He catches her wrist in his hand, though, his fingers warm against her skin. "Bon, are you trying to _spank_ me?"

The witch pulls back from him, freezing. A feeling of heat creeps over her as the visceral image of Kai stripped down to minimal clothing while she strikes his backside briefly flits through her mind. _No, no, no, no_.

"You have really nice skin," Kai is saying, his fingers tickling as they fall from her wrist and run down her arm. She shivers.

He drops his hold on her, turning his attention back to the grimoire. "Anywho," he announces, and Bonnie has to fight the feeling of disappointment unfurling in the pit of her stomach. "Where are the, uh, runes?"

"The green bookmark," Bonnie explains, gesturing to the sticky note that's a shade of neon green protruding from the book's binding. She'd marked a lot of the important things she'd found with multi-colored notes while going through it earlier in the week.

Together, the two of them pore over the long list of runes, looking for one that might relate to the Hunt and the victims. Eventually, Bonnie points to the one on the last page of the index that's in the shape of an 'x' with added flourishes and marks crossed through it.

"There it is," she murmurs, gesturing to the word 'sacrifice' scrawled next to it in messy handwriting. "This is the rune, but we need the spell to locate the people who have it. That _is_ a thing, right?" She eyes the other witch skeptically.

He shrugs, tossing the grimoire off to the side and settling closer to her on the bed, placing one hand behind her on the mattress. "Could always ask little sis," he suggests, raising two dark brows. "You'd be surprised the encyclopedia of witchy-woo up in that noggin. And you know _Dad's_ not gonna help us."

Bonnie sighs, recalling how put-off Liv had been to be in the presence of her brother again the last time. Regardless, she knew she had to give it a shot if it meant saving lives. "Fine. Liv it is."

 _xxxx_

It had taken Liv an hour to text Bonnie back. She and Kai had checked her dorm room to no avail, and it'd turned out the younger Parker was working a night shift at the Mystic Grill. They'd resigned to all meeting up in the morning when they could appropriately discuss witchcraft and sacrificial business away from prying ears.

It was about midnight when Bonnie began to notice Elena hadn't yet come home to the dorm. At first she figured it might be because of Damon, but when she called and texted them both she received no answer.

This panicked her more.

Pacing through the dorm, Bonnie picks up her cell again and rings Stefan's number. The line goes for awhile, and just as she's starting to feel anxiety fester in her stomach, the younger Salvatore brother picks up. To her horror, Stefan's voice is both out of breath and frantic. "Bonnie, you need to lock your door and bar it. _Now_. Lily's escaped, and she's got Elen-"

The door practically swings off of its hinges and smashes into the wall as a blur of color rushes in. Bonnie stumbles back, dropping her cell phone to the tiled floor and hearing a sickening crack as it collides.

It _is_ Lily Salvatore. There's fresh blood covering her mouth like she's just recently fed, and Bonnie's stomach rolls over as she tries to process whether or not that unlucky someone the woman had used as a blood bag still has their head intact. The thought doesn't stay for long, though, because Lily's clutching her best friend in her grip. Elena is passed out as if her neck was recently snapped, her head bobbing back as Lily carries her in her arms. In the vampire's right hand is a stake.

Poising it over Elena's heart, she presses the tip down lightly. "I suspect you know what I'm here for," Lily begins, and Bonnie is shaken by just how formal and polite the woman sounds as she's threatening someone's life. "Use the Ascendant, travel to the Prison World and get my family back before I end her _life_."

Bonnie's shaking her head, her throat closing up. "Lily, wait a second, okay? We can talk, just-"

Using her right hand to briefly toss the Ascendant into Bonnie's grasp, she quickly re-assembles the stake with vampire-like speed. "You have five seconds. _1... 2... 3_ -"

"I'll do it," Bonnie snaps, stepping forward. "I'll do it, just let her go. Just stop terrorizing my friends over and over again." She wonders if Stefan or Damon are on the way, but it hardly matters. Lily has a manic look in her eye and she's tried to kill Elena once before.

"Perfect. Then I expect you'll start now."


	12. Chapter 12

After Kai departs from Bonnie's dorm for the night, he takes an Uber back to the Salvatore Boarding House in hopes of retrieving the rest of his things to finish the move into Whitemore. The Uber is easy enough to score from his borrowed cash from the Salvatores, but he starts to wonder what his options will be when his funds inevitably run out.

Utilizing his old backpack from 1994 that's still chock full of baseball cards, he packs the few belongings he has and makes sure his shirts are folded properly before slipping them in neatly. He can't help but find his mind wandering to their plans for tomorrow- he knows he'll have to see Liv again, and the thought puts a knot in his stomach.

He remembers distinctly when he'd cornered her at the Mystic Grill fresh out of his Prison World and nearly killed her.

 _"I'm sad you didn't recognize me. It means Dad erased all traces of my existence- family pictures, movies, the little handprint turkey I made. What a dick."_ When he'd said it, it had been true, and it mostly still was. Kai had always resented both his family and coven for sweeping him under the rug as easily as they had. He'd spent so many years in his adolescence trying to win their affections or attention by doing almost everything his brothers and sisters did except for magic, but in the end it hadn't mattered. They'd _wanted_ to alienate him. Take the one thing that could have freed him from his solitude— the Merge.

So, practically as a result of that, he'd wanted to kill the younger twins. But now, after spending night after night lying awake wracked with guilt, Kai was just ashamed.

He knew it wouldn't be the same as it was with Jo and Bonnie— he couldn't write a letter or find her and apologize. She wouldn't take it. For all intents and purposes, Liv was a stranger to him— a stranger whose brother he had merged with. Liv had almost killed him for it, too, when he'd been trying to perform the spell to reach Bonnie in the Prison World.

He's lost in thought, zipping up his backpack and throwing it over his shoulder when he first hears the banging and shouting.

Alarmed, Kai bursts from the guest room and rushes up the hall, barely making it in time to catch Stefan and Damon wooshing into the entryway. Damon barrels straight through the front door, but Stefan takes a moment to stop, chest heaving as he grasps the wall.

"Kai, it's Lily. She, the Ascendant and Elena are missing and I'm pretty sure Bonnie's in danger." Stefan is frantic, his dark eyes wild and his hair ruffled. "If you're coming with us, you need to come now."

The Parker witch feels rooted to the spot for a fraction of a second, horror filling every fiber of his being at the words ' _Bonnie's in danger_ '. Horror first, and then anger mixed with genuine, raw terror.

"No," he finally says, and it's a syllable he can hardly utter. Just as Stefan looks like he's going to reply, Damon's voice rings out following the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut.

"She took my Camaro," the older Salvatore explains, sounding miffed. He's wearing that nose-scrunching grimace that Kai secretly thinks makes him look crazy-town. "If she put so much as one scratch on it, I'm going to tear her up into twice as many pieces. C'mon, Stefan, we're taking yours."

Stefan nods, swallowing. He snatches the keys from their place on the wall, tossing them over for Damon to promptly catch.

The three of them make their way to the garage, piling into Stefan's red Porsche. Kai takes the backseat, his long legs obnoxiously drawn up as he's cramped in the small space. "So," he begins, making eye contact with Damon through the rearview mirror. "Is there any reason why you two were mysteriously M-I-A while your crazy Ripper Mama was sniffing around for the Ascendant and somehow snatched your girlfriend?" he pauses, looking at Stefan. "And this goes for both of you when I say 'girlfriend'."

Damon scowls, putting the Porsche in reverse to back out of the garage so quickly that Kai is mildly impressed he doesn't leave skid marks on the road. "Dear old baby bro and I were on our way to find some of Lily's old friends. Her whole Ripper act just wasn't coming to an end, so we were trying to find an emotional link to use; coax her out." His blue eyes are piercing, his brows furrowed. "Trouble is, looks like she's got Enzo by the balls a little more than we had anticipated. We found a blood bag on the floor, and the cell door was open, so-"

"We looked for Elena," Stefan interjects, sighing as he leans against the window. "But she was gone. We'd left her to watch the house and do some homework. Didn't think anything of it."

Kai feels an irrational surge of anger and clenches his fists. "Well, maybe that's the problem, Stefanno. You're not thinking. Like, ever." The retort is cutting, but he can't bring himself to feel bad for it. Lily was the only reason any of them were in this mess.

To his surprise, the younger Salvatore brother leans over the divider and turns to look at him. "Listen, Kai- I know you and Bonnie have something going on between you, and I get why. I really do. But I need you to stay focused on saving her. We are not your enemies- Enzo and Lily are." His eyes are soft and understanding, but his mouth is in a hard line. Kai realizes for the first time just how handsome the man is. He definitely prefers him to Damon.

"Fine, whatever," Kai says finally, directing the words at Stefan. "Let's just get this over with. Full disclosure, I'll break Ripper Mama over my knee if she hurts Bon."

"I know you will," Stefan says, surprising Kai for the second time. "I know."

 _xxxx_

 _The Supermoon_. She should have known; should have remembered.

Bonnie feels like a fool. She's holding the Ascendant, and her hands are shaking. Trembling.

She can't go back- not like this. She can still remember every single feeling and bit of inner turmoil she endured in 1994, and the thought of being back and trapped is mortifying. Lily's 'family' might bring her back with them, but what if they don't? What if she's left to suffer until she can find a way out again?

Lily's stake is still threateningly close to Elena's heart, and the girl doesn't show any sign of waking from her temporary death. Bonnie inhales slowly, shakily, and then begins the chant.

The Ascendant feels hotter in her hands, thrumming with magic at her touch. She slices her palm, and the blood pools over her skin. She feels the spell start to lift, but then-

The door swings open and the Salvatores are bursting in along with Kai.

" _Bonnie_ ," he shouts, and he's reaching for her, his hand outstretched. His fingertips barely brush her, and then the white light takes her.

 _xxxx_

When she comes to, her eyes blink open and she slowly realizes she's on the cold hard floor of the Salvatore dining room. The first thing she can focus on is the trim of a velvet dress that's before her.

Bonnie groans, sitting up, and begins to realize the dress is worn by one of _them_.

The woman before her has brunette hair and beautiful, big eyes. She doesn't look the least bit dessicated, something that Lily and Damon had both failed to mention before.

Bonnie scrambles backwards, her back colliding with the wall in her attempts to get away. "Don't come near me," she snarls, angry tears beginning to well in her eyes. "Don't touch me."

"You're the Bennett witch, aren't you? The one whose blood can free us?" A smile plays on the Heretic's pretty lips. "You have to understand- it's nothing personal. We just need to get out of here."

That's when Bonnie knows it for certain- they have the Ascendant, and they're intending on using it.

She hardly sees the knife before she feels it lodged into her for the second time.

The shock and the blood loss begin to overwhelm her, and she slides to the floor, the lights dimming to black.

 _xxxx_

"Bon. Bon, are you with me?"

Kai's voice sounds like it's in a faraway tunnel, and when her eyes blink open again for the second time, she sees the blurry image of his handsome face. _It can't be_ , she thinks. She came here alone- she was _alone_.

"They took the Ascendant," he presses on, and she can feel fingers on her skin. Stinging. Pressure. "It's a little hiccup on the road back to Mystic Falls, but it's no big deal. We're _going_ to get out of here, Bonnie."

Her fingers flutter up to her side to feel for the wound, but all that meets her is the smooth feeling of a freshly placed bandage. She struggles to sit up, her vision coming into clearer focus. _He's real. He's here._

"Kai," she manages, blinking the tears from her eyes. She isn't sure if they're from frustration, fear or pure anger. "I thought I was alone. Again." Her voice cracks at the end. She realizes distantly that she's sitting on the edge of the oranate red couch in the Salvatore's den, and it's the same couch she'd woken up on with an arrow wound from Kai. Except this time, that same man who had been her adversary is now apparently her bedside nurse.

His eyes are big with concern, and he's sitting so close his knees are touching hers. She'd never thought she'd be happy to see him, but she feels her chest swell and she knows that she is. She'd thought she was alone, and the joy of finding she's not feels like it's bursting from her chest.

Bonnie, without entirely anticipating her own actions, hugs him in a quick motion and buries her nose into the soft skin of his neck. She takes a shuddering breath. He hesitates for just a moment, and then his arms come up, wrapping around her and holding her back. Her heart stutters at their proximity- she can feel every place their chests touch, and his breath is tickling her left ear.

"You came with me." She says the words before she can even register that she's saying them entirely. She still feels like she's in a whirlwind of shock and adrenaline. "You came with me to this Prison World even though you didn't know what was going to happen." The full force of the realization starts to hit her- Kai had come with her just so she wouldn't be alone.

"I mean, what did you think I was gonna do? Leave you in here by yourself?" His words are warm, and they feel tender. Real. A far cry from the sadistic quips and cold lies from 1994.

"Bonnie," he says, pulling back and grasping her cheeks with his hands. His touch is soft; gentle, even. He resists siphoning her, and she can tell. He swallows, his throat bobbing. "I will _never_ leave you like I did, in any way, shape or form, ever again. And I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry." There's raw emotion in his gray-blue eyes, and Bonnie can see it clearly. It's as if he thoroughly _feels_ things now, even if he didn't before, and it's becoming increasingly apparent to her with every passing second she spends next to him.

It's the first time Bonnie fully wonders if Luke's shared empathy had granted him the perspective he needed to change.

He's looking into her eyes, burning emotion deep in his own. Bonnie remembers every single sexually charged moment between them; every quip, every eye flirtation. A primal need for him burns somewhere deep inside. They're only inches away from each other, and it would be easy to kiss. Her gaze flicks to his lips, and she considers it for a long moment before finally pulling back and breaking away from his grip. The pain in her side has dulled, but is still there and lightly throbbing.

She touches the band-aid, letting out a groan. "She really stabbed me. I guess they're long gone?" Bonnie isn't sure she wants the answer to the question when she asks it.

"Honestly, if you want my guess, I think they got as far away from here as they could in hopes that we won't find the Ascendant. I doubt Lily would appreciate a vengeful witch riding back into Mystic Falls as it is, much less two of them." He tilts his head to the side. "Good thing we still have our trusty old locator spell."

"Not right now," Bonnie says, surprising him and herself. "I just got, uh, stabbed with a knife, in case you've already forgotten. So.. give me a minute. The Ascendant won't leave the spot they use it at since it can't travel between worlds, and since _you_ can get us out of here without a celestial event because of your coven leader powers, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Right. Whatever you think is best," Kai concedes, and after one long, last look at her, he stands from the couch. "The Ascendant will still be there for us to find in the morning. If you want, I can grab a kit for stitches when I go to get your antibiotics. I can't promise it won't look like a ten year old got into a sewing kit, but I'll do my best."

Bonnie nods, her chest clenching. She's still processing their embrace and everything that's going on between them, so it's hard to look at him. "Just.. yeah. Grab it and bring it back. Get some petroleum, too— maybe I can aim for minimal scarring this time."

When he leaves, Bonnie lays back into the couch, exhaustion overtaking her. She can't say she's happy with waiting any amount of time before getting out of here, but her side also feels like it's on fire where the knife bit her. For once in her life, she puts her trust in Kai and she waits.

 _xxxx_

When he returns, Kai doctors her up as promised. Having the fresh bandage pulled from the wound is exruciating, but she takes the antibiotics and tries not to focus on the pain when he threads the stitches through her skin.

Afterwards, the two of them create a mini pillow fort on the couch from pillows they'd ransacked from the house, and Bonnie props herself up so her wounded side is untouched. Kai has his chin in his hands and both of his elbows propped on a pillow, laying on his stomach as he gazes up at her.

"Bon." When she doesn't say anything, he seems miffed. "Bonster," he prods, and she finally looks over, irritated.

"What?" she demands, but her voice is more tired than it is annoyed.

"I'm bored." He grins sheepishly. "Shocker, I know. Let's _playy_... Two Truths and a Lie." The witch tilts his head, a playful smile tugging at his lips. "C'mon, it'll be fun. I'll even let you go first."

Bonnie sighs, defeated. With the dull pain in her side and the anxiety the Prison World induces, she's having a hard time resting to begin with. There could be worse things than playing a game— like laying awake contemplating tomorrow. "Fine," she agrees simply. "Two truths and a lie, huh?" She bites her lower lip, lost in thought for a moment.

"Let's see. My mom is a vampire, my dad was murdered by a doppelganger and I did my first spell at the ripe age of twelve." Bonnie smiles sweetly, giving him a pointed look. "Good luck."

Kai eyes her suspiciously. "A doppelganger, huh? Like Elena? 'Cuz that seems—" he whistles. "-that seems like some bad blood, no pun intended." Leaning into one palm and gazing off, he bites his lower lip. " _Wait_ , would you forgive her if she offed your dad? That seems like something for the 'no takebacks' list, but knowing you and your martyrdom, Bonnie-"

"Is this part of the game?" she interrupts, raising her brows at him. "Quizzing me until you figure out which ones are the truths and which one is the lie?" She's growing impatient with his prodding, but something about what he says about her 'martyrdom' lingers in her head nontheless.

He grins. "Alright, alriight. I've heard you mention Abby in the Prison World before, so the thing about the vampire mom is a truth. Considering how charming your merry band of Mystic Falls misfits is, I'm also going to take a gander that the nasty bit about your dad is also true. You don't strike me as someone who was doing cutesy candle spells at age twelve, either, so the last part is a lie." He fixes her with knowing gray-blue eyes, his lips wearing a thin smirk. "How'd I do, Bon?"

"Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, you're spot on," she says, giving a sigh as she leans back again. "Elena didn't kill my father. Stefan's doppelganger Silas did." The memory is too hard to bear; she hopes the other witch won't press the topic.

He doesn't. Instead, he gives her a long look and says, "My turn." Sitting up, he situates himself in his stack of pillows and crosses his legs. "Grape jam is hands down the best kind of jam, Joey was my favorite sibling, and Dad left me in a closet for a week once after I accidentally siphoned Jo." He turns his expactant gaze on her. " _Good luck_."

Bonnie sucks in a breath and thinks. The answer doesn't take long to come to her. "The second one is the lie. Joey isn't your favorite sibling- that's Jo. You love her." The thought comes as naturally to her as running water. Kai had always shown a tremendous soft spot for Jo- she was the first one he had shown any humanity to after his merge with Luke.

"Y'know, Bonnie, I practically gave you that one on a silver platter. Who doesn't like grape flavored jam the most? _Classic_."

His deflection isn't something that surprises her, but she still finds herself rolling her eyes.

The two play games late into the night, until Bonnie eventually slides from her propped up stance on the pillow and her head is resting on Kai's shoulder.

It doesn't take long before they're both sleeping soundly.


End file.
